Detecting fake-good MMPI-A profiles in a correctional facility

This study examined the extent to which the validity scales of the Minnesot a Multiphasic personality inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A; J. N. Butcher et al ., 1992) could differentiate between correctional adolescents instructed to fake good and both correctional and noncorrectional adolescents who receiv ed standard instructions. The noncorrectional participants (n = 137) were f rom settings not connected with treatment or correctional facilities. Corre ctional participants (n = 140) were from a facility in North-eastern Ohio. Mean profiles resembled those previously reported for adults on the MMPI an d MMPI-2 and for adolescents on the MMPI and MMPI-A. It was possible to dif ferentiate between (a) correctional youth instructed to fake good and nonco rrectional youth with standard instructions and (b) correctional youth who were faking and correctional youth with standard instructions. Slightly dif ferent cutoff scores were needed for these two discriminations.