The MMPI–2, L, F, and K validity scales were administered to 21 (42%) suicide attempters and 29 (58%) ideators who had been hospitalized as being at risk for committing suicide. These inpatients were also asked to rate anonymously how much they had “exaggerated on purpose or lied about being suicidal to a staff member” during their current hospitalizations. The three MMPI–2 validity scores of the inpatients were not associated with self-reported malingering, and 6 (12%) of the inpatients reported malingering. This rate was comparable to the 10% rate which had previously been found by Rissmiller, et al. in 1998.
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