ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF VIOLENCE ON WOMEN IN BATTERING RELATIONSHIPSWITH THE KEANE MMPI-PTSD SCALE

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-Keane Posttraum atic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Scale (PK) has proven to be a reliable and valid measure of PTSD in combat veterans. However, few studies have e xamined the scale's validity in battered women, who often present with PTSD. Using empirically derived cutoff scores for the PK Scale, 69 ba ttered women were assigned to PTSD-Positive and PTSD-Negative groups a nd then compared on measures of PTSD, distress, social support, and hi story of abuse in and out of the battering relationship. The PTSD-Posi tive group scored significantly higher across all measures of PTSD and distress, supporting the concurrent validity of the PK Scale in this population. However the two groups differed only for the frequency of death threats, suggesting that the PK Scale is only mildly sensitive t o the level of trauma exposure. Finally, lower levels of perceived soc ial support were found in the PTSD-Positive than the PTSD-Negative gro up. Implications of these findings for the assessment of PTSD in batte red women are discussed.