VALIDITY OF SELECTED MMPI - A CONTENT SCALES

The authors examined the convergent and discriminant validity of selec ted Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) co ntent scales, including Anxiety, Depression, Health Concerns, Alienati on, Anger, Conduct Problems, and Social Discomfort. Sixty-two adolesce nt psychiatric inpatients completed the MMPI-A and a battery of self-r eport measures of constructs similar to those measured by the content scales. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity was generall y strong, although the Anxiety and Depression content scales did not d iscriminate well between these 2 constructs. This finding is discussed in terms of L. A. Clark and D. Watson's (1991) tripartite model of an xiety and depression. Overall, findings support the validity and poten tial utility of the content scales.