A STRUCTURAL SUMMARY APPROACH FOR THE MMPI-A - DEVELOPMENT AND EMPIRICAL CORRELATES

The 69 scales and subscales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality I nventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) are highly intercorrelated and furnish re dundant information concerning adolescents' personality functioning. A recent study by Archer, Belevich, and Elkins (1994) identified eight scale-level factors for the MMPI-A. In this article we present a Struc tural Summary of the MMPI-A based on the scale-level factor structure of this instrument and describe the development and organization of a Structural Summary form. We also provide new research data concerning the empirical correlates of the Structural Summary factors for the MMP I-A normative sample, and for a clinical sample of 122 adolescents, wh ich clarifies the characteristics measured by these dimensions. The St ructural Summary approach cuts across the largely arbitrary distinctio ns between basic, content, and supplementary scales and permits a more organized and parsimonious interpretive approach. Future research sho uld be directed toward further refinement of methods for using the Str uctural Summary dimensions in clinical practice.