DETECTION OF RANDOM RESPONDING ON THE MMPI-A

We examined random responding on the MMPI-A in 106 adolescents from th e general population. Participants were asked to report on the frequen cy, location, and reasons for any random responses occurring during a standard administration of the MMPI-A. Relationships between self-repo rted random responding and validity indices (F1, F2, F, and Variable R esponse Inconsistency [VRIN] scale) were examined. In addition, each p articipant was randomly assigned to 1 of 5 groups, with each group com pleting an assigned portion (0, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100%) of an MMPI-A a nswer sheet without access to the test booklet, and the utility of the validity scales in discriminating standard protocols from all or part ially random protocols was investigated. Most adolescents acknowledged one or more random responses during the standard administration, and number of self-reported random responses correlated significantly with F but not VRIN. Validity scales were sensitive to all or partially ra ndom protocols, and produced high classification rates when discrimina ting among groups.