27:T4c4,

The present study evaluated the presence of DSM-IV personality disorders among young adults from a nonclinical setting who produced an MMPI 2-7-8 profile in comparison to a group of MMPI-defined controls. Categorical and dimensional analyses of personality disorders were evaluated. Participants in the 2-7-8 group (n = 20) received significantly more personality disorder diagnoses than did controls (n = 29), and 85% of these individuals received at least one Cluster A (Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal) diagnosis in contrast to only 6.9% of controls (categorical analysis). The 2-7-8 group also received significantly more Cluster A diagnoses than Cluster B or C diagnoses. When dimensional analyses were applied (subclinical diagnoses), 95% of the 2-7-8 group evidenced Cluster A features. Comorbidity patterns were also evaluated; the most frequent comorbid diagnosis for the 2-7-8 group was Avoidant Personality Disorder (n = 8), consistent with Meehl's (1962, 1989, 1990) conceptualization of schizotypy. These results support the use of the MMPI 2-7-8 profile as an indicator of schizophrenia-related pathology within nonclinical samples of young adults.

28:T41d,

An evaluation is made of Goldberg's (1992) 100 Unipolar Markers of the five-factor model of personality. The factor structure of these items in samples of older men from the Normative Aging Study and undergraduate students are examined, and both item transformation and consistency testing approaches are used to evaluate replications of the five-factor structure. Results show that the five-factor structure is difficult to replicate in the sample of older men. While item transformations and sample trimming based on a consistency test did improve the quality of the replication in this older, nonstudent sample, both methods have serious drawbacks. The five-factor solution appeared in the student sample without sample trimming or data transformation. Additionally, in both student and nonstudent samples, oblique rotation resulted in inter-factor correlations relevant to more general issues in the study of trait structure. We conclude that the 100 Unipolar Markers may be unsuitable for use in older populations or with nonstudent samples.

29:T442,

This study is a cross validation of the previous work by Greiffenstein, Baker, and Gola (1994) and Greiffenstein, Gola, and Baker (1995) on the Reliable Digits (RD) method of detecting possible malingering. This study consisted of 47 mild brain-injured litigating and 49 mild brain-injured non-litigating participants. The result of this study was that only 4.1% of the non-litigating participants were classified as malingering by RD, while 48.9% of the litigating participants were classified as malingering by RD. Comparing litigating participants' performance on a forced choice task with their RD revealed that 77.8% (7/9) who failed the forced choice task also failed RD. RD classified more litigating patients as malingering than did the forced choice task and none of the non-litigating participants failed forced choice. These findings underscore the previous recommendations of Greiffenstein et al. (1994, 1995), that it is important to assess motivation on specific neuropsychological tests and that motivation on neuropsychological tests is not an all or none phenomenon.

2a:T7e7,