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Introduction
I am interested in the the validity, utility, and training practices/outcomes of broadband personality assessment measures like the PAI and MMPI-2-RF/3. I am also interested in treatment engagement (i.e., drop out, treatment initiation), particularly our ability to predict those behaviors. I believe that the integration of psychological assessment, treatment science, and strength-based approaches is a super cool and fun area to research!
AssessVA.org
Current institution
Publications
Publications (78)
The interpersonal theory of suicide (ITS) conceptualizes thwarted belongingness (TB) and perceived burdensomeness (PB) as sufficient and proximal suicide ideation (SI) risk factors. The Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ) is used to assess TB and PB; however, it does not capture all aspects of these constructs. The MMPI-3 M3-TB and M3-PB proxy...
Objective
We examined the utility of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) to detect feigned over-reporting using a symptom-based coaching simulation design across a control group and three diagnostic conditions: posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), minor traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and comorbid PTSD and mTBI.
Method
Parti...
Experiences of self-stigma and gender role conflict act as barriers to men’s psychological help-seeking. Although previous studies suggest that violation of masculine norms and the desire to preserve
masculinity reduce men’s help-seeking behaviors, little is known about the ways in which specific help-seeking behaviors are impacted. The current stu...
This study examines the convergent validity of the substantive scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) in the Veteran Affairs (VA) population. The sample includes test protocols drawn from all administrations of the MMPI-2-RF or MMPI-2 entered into the electronic medical record system between Januar...
Objective
Valid client performance is critical to effective psychological testing. The MMPI-2-RF includes the Response Bias Scale (RBS) as an effective over-reporting scale and was developed for such detection efforts. Emerging RBS research has evaluated modifications to improve the scale’s reliability and validity, shortening it from 28 to 19-item...
Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is highly stigmatized and increasingly prevalent among young adults. Perceived public NSSI stigma may hamper help-seeking, decrease social support, and impede the development of effective public health interventions to address NSSI. Research has been limited, however, by the lack of validated measures of perceived pub...
Background
We continue to have limited success in identifying Veterans at high risk of suicide, due in part to reticence of disclosing suicidal ideation.
Aims
This study used a simulated groups experimental design to evaluate the MMPI‐3's ability to assess suicide risk underreporting in Veterans with past‐month death/suicide ideation.
Materials a...
The purpose of this investigation is to provide descriptive information on veteran response styles for compensation and pension (C&P) evaluations Veterans Affairs (VA) referral types using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2–Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), which has well-supported embedded validity scales capturing invalid response sty...
Objective
Performance and symptom validity (PVT/SVT) are distinct but related constructs (Nelson et al., 2007; Ruocco et al., 2008). However, studies have rarely examined PVT and SVT via factor analytic techniques, which offer stronger understanding of concurrent performance patterns across tests. Ord et al (2021) conducted one such study and concl...
Objective
Research on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Assessment-3’s (MMPI-3) utility in treatment is scarce, primarily investigating prediction of traumatic symptoms and suicidal risk (Keen et al., 2022; Morris et al., 2024). However, few studies have examined these scales in treatment settings. The current study expands prior research by ex...
Objective
Test–retest reliability is a foundational psychometric property of tests, providing a means through which tests may be assessed for time invariant interpretation. This study evaluated the test–retest reliability of several self-report instruments commonly employed in a veteran/military neurocognitive rehabilitation setting.
Method
Repeat...
Objective
RBS is a cognitive overreporting scale on the MMPI-family of instruments. Recent efforts to refine the scale removed nine items lacking conceptual and empirical relationships to cognitive dysfunction (Ingram et al., 2024; Ratcliffe et al., 2022). This revised scale version (RBS-19) demonstrated improved utility and classification accuracy...
Objective
Research on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, 3 (MMPI-3) Somatic/Cognitive scales is limited, but primarily focused on their relationships with symptom and performance validity tests. This study expands prior literature by providing extensive Somatic/Cognitive Scale correlates with symptom validity tests and neurocognitive...
Project Choices ( PC), a newly developed videogame for correctional intervention, consists of realistic decision-making scenarios and cognitive behavioral skills feedback. A pilot study investigated PC engagement and immersion by employing a cross-over design with a sample of 24 men on probation remanded to residential treatment. The study also exa...
Objective
In‐depth suicide risk assessments are particularly important to long‐term suicide prevention. Broadband measures of psychopathology, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) instruments, assess suicide risk factors and various mental health comorbidities. With the recent release of the MMPI‐3, the Suicidal/Death Idea...
Psychological assessment underwent substantive challenges and changes when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and these changes are likely to endure given the rapid growth of telehealth clinical practice and assessment research using virtual procedures. COVID-19-related changes to assessment practices have impacted accordingly how we study overreporting...
Evaluation of criminal thinking is important in correctional assessments because of its salience to recidivism, or relapse of criminal behavior. The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) is a common instrument which assesses criminal thinking, one of the most salient risk factors of recidivism. However, little is known about t...
Disordered eating is a major health epidemic that occurs at disproportionate rates among young adults and for which gender plays a major role in symptom presentation. Broadband psychological instruments have historically not included disordered eating as a core scale construct. The recent release of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3...
Objective:
Previous research has found that among those with brain injury, individuals have a variety of different potential symptom sets, which will be seen on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). The number of different groups and what they measure have varied depending on the study.
Method:
In active-duty personnel with a remote histor...
Following the development of the Cognitive Bias Scale (CBS), three other cognitive over-reporting indicators were created. This study cross-validates these new Cognitive Bias Scale of Scales (CB-SOS) measurements in a military sample and contrasts their performance to the CBS. We analyzed data from 288 active-duty soldiers who underwent neuropsycho...
Emerging adults continue to face uncertainty as they navigate new experiences coupled with increased responsibilities and self-reliance, often resulting in stress. The stress-coping model suggest that increased stress/uncertainty leads can lead to substance use as emerging adults attempt to reduce their stress. Older siblings are found to protect y...
Objective: The present study evaluated the function of four cognitive, symptom validity scales on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), the Cognitive Bias Scale (CBS) and the Cognitive Bias Scale of Scales (CB-SOS) 1, 2, and 3 in a sample of Veterans who volunteered for a study of neurocognitive functioning. Method: 371 Veterans (88.1% male,...
Objective:
The Memory Complaints Inventory (MCI) is a stand-alone memory-based symptom validity test (SVT). The measure is promising and has been used with relative frequency, but requires additional research (Armistead-Jehle & Shura, 2022). The current study sought to expand the empirical base of the MCI by comparing it to the Cognitive Bias Scal...
We investigated the validity and screening effectiveness of the PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 scores in 229 college students in a cross-sectional design. PHQ associations with Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 internalizing scales suggest PHQ scores are effective screening tools for college students and may aid in effective triage and service needs.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, understanding connections between economic pressures and mental health experiences is critical in comprehending how stressful global events can affect families. Although economic pressures and stress can negatively impact mental health, approach coping strategies may provide reductions in negative mental health e...
Objective:
Attaining competence in assessment is a necessary step in graduate training and has been defined to include multiple domains of training relevant to this attainment. While important to ensure trainees meet these standards of training, it is critical to understand how and if competence shapes a trainees' professional identity, therein pr...
This study evaluated the Personality Assessment Inventory’s (PAI) symptom validity-based over-reporting scales with concurrently administered performance validity testing in a sample of active-duty military personnel seen within a neuropsychology clinic. We utilize two measures of performance validity to identify problematic performance validity (p...
Research on symptom endorsement patterns in those with trauma exposure frequently emphasizes presentation subtypes. Most frequently, internalizing, externalizing, and dissociative symptom clusters are identified; however, evidence for the emergence of disorder subtypes is not always consistent. To expand its clinical utility, this study examines sy...
Objective
The Cognitive Bias Scale (CBS) was developed for the PAI using item-level responses identified based on failed performance validity testing (PVT), with subsequent studies cross-validating the scale. New research developed three alternative forms of the CBS using scale level responses, called the Cognitive Bias Scale of Scales (CB-sos). Th...
Research is mixed on the role of service era in symptom endorsement among Veterans, with differences emerging depending on the instrument evaluated. This study compares Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) scale scores of VA test-takers who served during the Vietnam, Desert Storm, or Post-9/11 service eras. The sample was collected at a VA Posttr...
Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is associated with significant distress, impairment, and suicide risk among young adults. Negative affectivity and self-critical cognitions are linked to NSSI but have rarely been considered jointly alongside indicators of NSSI severity (e.g., frequency, recency, number of methods). To address this gap, we examined de...
Background
The predoctoral internshipAQ4 training year is the capstone training experience for health service doctoral students. Previous research has explored what applicant characteristics are desired by internship sites and has not thoroughly explored differences between types of sites or criteria importance at different stages of applicant cons...
The current project aimed to develop and validate the Hope for Parenting Scale (HFPS), a five-item self-report instrument that addresses hopeful thinking of parents. In Sample 1, 413 fathers of infants completed the HFPS. In Sample 2, 290 mothers and fathers of children age 0–18 completed the HFPS. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted using S...
Psychological evaluations of clergy applicants to the Catholic Church are an important gatekeeping mechanism during the admission process. However, limited research exists on the validity of assessments for this evaluative purpose and none have examined the predictive utility of the MMPI-2-RF to determine if an applicant will be accepted to formati...
The M5–50 is a brief 50 item international personality item pool public-domain five-factor model personality instrument. While public-domain instruments can facilitate social justice by allowing access to instruments to those who may not have the financial resources to use a pay-to-use instrument, public-domain measures may lack the scrutiny given...
Objective
The present study was designed to examine the psychometric properties and correlates of an existing measure of father involvement with infants, The Paternal Involvement with Infants scale (PIWIS), with Latino fathers.
Background
Fathers' involvement with their infants is associated with positive outcomes for family members. Father involv...
The clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has led to several strategies aimed at preventing future offenses from occurring. The screening of applicants to clergy training programs has become more rigorous and includes a psychological evaluation. The purpose of this article is to examine personality-based risk factors associated with sex...
This investigation utilized a large sample of individuals undergoing substance use treatment to examine the CES-D’s structural validity and establish its predictive utility relative to treatment discharge. The sample included 5750 individuals who were receiving substance abuse treatment at 19 different residential treatment facilities. The CES-D wa...
Objective
Recent research has worked to explore the relationships between symptom and performance validity testing. The current study sought to examine the association between PAI over-reporting SVTs and well validated stand-alone and embedded PVTs.
Methods
Retrospective review of 468 active duty Army cases referred for outpatient neuropsychologic...
Objective:
Recently, in a mixed neuropsychological outpatient sample, a measure of cognitive response bias has been developed for the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) called the Cognitive Bias Scale (CBS). This study sought to cross-validate this measure in a military sample.
Method:
Retrospective review of 197 active duty soldiers referre...
Assessment is critical to health service psychology and represents a core area of coverage during doctoral
training. Despite this, training practices in assessment are understudied. Accordingly, this study utilized a
national sampling of students (n 534) enrolled in an American Psychological Association–accredited health
service psychology doctoral...
The measurement of paternal involvement as a multidimensional construct has evolved with current societal trends of fathering and corresponding advanced theories. As a result, research must keep pace by continuing to examine predictors of the dynamic ways that fathers are involved with their children, particularly with infants. The current study bu...
Tenure and promotion procedures are an important work consideration for those seeking academic appointments. The first six years (the typical pre-tenure period) are particularly central to these concerns, with merit determinations frequently relying on scholarly contribution. Accordingly, this study examines trends in peer-reviewed journal publicat...
The paraeducator workforce as well as the breadth of their responsibilities to serve students in special education has increased considerably in public schools. Unfortunately, research to identify the most effective methods for training paraeducators has not kept pace. Addressing this dynamic, through an implementation science framework, requires a...
Introduction: This study examines the utility of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) validity scales to detect invalid responding within a sample of active duty United States Army soldiers referred for neuropsychological evaluations.
Method: This study examines the relationship between performance validit...
Recently, the Integrative Hope Scale (HIS) was developed and validated in several Western cultures. Because of its multidimensional structure and its relational components, we wondered if IHS could be a useful instrument for assessing hope in non-Western cultures. The current study translated and validated the IHS in a large sample of Chinese colle...
This study compares profiles of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) scale scores from 1492 VA test-takers who served during the Vietnam or Gulf War service eras. The sample includes all such cases collected at any VA posttraumatic stress disorder Clinical Teams across the United States between January 1, 2008...
This investigation provides descriptive information on substantive scale scores from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) across four common service locations within Veterans Affairs (VA): PTSD clinical team, individual substance use treatment, primary medical care, and residential polytrauma rehabilitatio...
This investigation surveyed students (n = 91) from 16 American Psychological Association accredited doctoral programs in clinical and counseling psychology about knowledge and training in personality assessment. We report self-perceived competency on specific instruments as well as training trends in coursework and instrument exposure in clinical s...
The purpose of this investigation is to provide descriptive information on veteran response styles for a variety of VA referral types using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), which has well-supported protocol validity scales. The sample included 17,640 veterans who were administered the MMPI-2-RF...
This encyclopedia provides an over-view of meta-analytic methods and discusses their statistical methodology.
Background:
Paraprofessionals serve a primary role in supporting students with disabilities in the classroom, which necessitates teachers' supervision as a means to improve their practice. Yet, little is known regarding what factors affect teacher supervision.
Aims:
We sought to identify how paraprofessional competence and classroom type affecte...
This project examined the role of self-stigma and gender role conflict as correlated predictors of different treatment behaviors (informal support, professional services, self-help, and avoidance behaviors). It also examined depressive symptoms as a influence on stigma and gender role. Results indicate that gender role conflict increases avoidance...
This project builds on work examining the role of five-factor personality in the relationship between self-stigma and treatment attitudes (e.g., Ingram et al., 2016) to examine how readiness for change may be considered as a targetable intervention for increasing psychological services. Since change is not restricted to psychological services and p...
Since their introduction, interests have been important to the field of vocational psychology. Within career counseling, they often serve as a starting point to career exploration. The changing nature of the world of work means that accurate assessment is even more imperative. There remain a number of inventories to help assess this construct. The...
Utilizing a population sample of all MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-Restructured form assessments which were electronically administered from 2008 until 2015, response patterns were examined according to clinical service area with the goal of identifying comparison groups for the Veteran Affairs. This presentation outlines preliminary findings (M, SD, % clinica...
The Integrated Hope Scale (IHS) provides a multi-dimensional evaluation of factors common across measures of hope, examining social relationships, trust and confidence, perspectives of the future, and a lack of hopefulness. Despite promise for the instrument’s utility, research on the IHS is sparse has been limited to non-English-speaking populatio...
This study examined ways to improve fit and interpretive capacity of the M5-50, an IPIP-based personality instrument, using the Openness/ Intellect model (O/I) given a history of poor performance of the M5-50 Openness scale (Socha, Cooper, & McCord, 2010). With participants from Amazon's MTurk (n = 305), theoretical models for the five-factor model...
Our data suggested that elevated invalidity scales may be related to other diagnoses (e.g. PTSD) and not represent an ”invalid” response set.
Stigma has received attention as a major barrier toward effective mental health service delivery, and previous research has demonstrated that the Five-Factor Model (FFM) domain of Openness to Experience is negatively correlated with stigmatized views of mental health. However, a lack of established relationships between personality and self-stigma,...
Objective:
This study synthesized research evaluation of the effectiveness of the over-reporting validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) for detecting intentionally feigned over-endorsements of symptoms using a moderated meta-analysis.
Method:
After identifying experimental and quasi-exp...
Religion is a shaping force in the world today, increasingly expressed and integral to the flow and function of the workplace. The relationship between religious identity and work function is clearly present. However, no lines of research have explored how religion explains the variations in vocational interest, despite speculation that it does so....
Modern theories of psychopathology incorporate a higher-order approach to conceptualization (e.g., Krueger & Tackett, 2003). These theories are often characterized as having internalizing, externalizing, and thought disorder content as critical elements. This higher order approach has recently been incorporated into the MMPI-2-Restructured Form (MM...
Although the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is among the most widely used measures of perceived stress, it has only recently begun to be tested in independent psychometric validation studies, and the four-item version of the PSS (PSS-4) (the briefest version of this measure) has never undergone testing to examine and confirm the originally proposed s...
The M5-50 is a five-factor theory instrument based on the International Personality Item Pool
(IPIP) that has had difficulties with the five-factor model fitting well. The openness domain's factor
structure has a history of concerns that might relate to the connected yet distinguishable facets
of openness/intellect. This study explored the factor s...
Recent research has questioned whether the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (WAIS) measure the same constructs for adults with intellectual disabilities as they do for the general population (MacLean et al., 2011). Using the special validity sample of the WAIS-IV (Wechsler, 2008b), the structure of the WAIS-IV was investigated using confirmatory...
The recent release of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2—Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) has received much attention from the clinical psychology community. Particular concerns have focused on Restructured Clinical Scale 3 (RC3; Cynicism). This article briefly reviews the major criticisms and responses regarding the restructuring of Cl...
The purpose of this study was to determine whether an index of self-reported attention deficits predicts the pattern of visual field asymmetries observed in behavioral measures of attention. Studies of "normal" subjects do not present a consistent pattern of asymmetry in attention functions, with some studies showing better left visual field (LVF)...
Questions
Questions (2)
Hi
I have two groups (males = 420 and females = 763) which have taken an instrument we have translated into a new language. We are attempting to validate the instrument. Overall, we found modest fit during CFA for the combined group (likely due, in part, to 2 of the 32 items having below .3 loadings - the rest were great). Those two items remained poorly loaded across multiple CFA iterations (single latent, correlated oblique, and bi-factor), but were significant. My co-author and I are in disagreement about if those items should be dropped and the model re-run. It is my belief that doing so would provide both the basic instrument fit but also the fit as we would recommend it be interpreted in the new translated version as such poorly loaded items offer very little interpretive information. In general, the fit is similar to that observed previously.
When we conduct invariance testing it fails immediately, and badly (results pasted below). My co-author and I are also in a disagreement about how we can interpret this. It is my understanding that the unequal sample sizes will not cause us to be more likely to find between group variance and that, in fact, it makes it more likely for us to fail to reject the null (e.g., that the groups are invariant). Simulation studies I have seen (Yoon & Lai, 2017), and other references to sample size considerations, seem to support this. My co-author remains concerned that our sample size has caused this and that we cannot interpret our results as indicating non-invariance for males and females.
Two questions
====
1. Anyone know a reference to a test development book that says its ok to drop poorly loaded items during instrument translation?
2. Any thoughts, references, or interpretations of the measurement invariance issue as it relates to sample size differences?
Observed Configural Results
====
Chi-Square Test of Model Fit
Value 15611.280*
Degrees of Freedom 460
P-Value 0.0000
Chi-Square Contribution and P-Value From Each Group (degrees of freedom = 230)
MALE 3825.047 0.000
FEMALE 11786.233 0.000
RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error Of Approximation)
Estimate 0.236
90 Percent C.I. 0.233 - 0.239
Probability RMSEA <= .05 0.000
CFI/TLI
CFI 0.335
TLI 0.269
Chi-Square Test of Model Fit for the Baseline Model
Value 23294.858
Degrees of Freedom 506
P-Value 0.0000
I am trying to locate a public access (or, at least, free to research) brief (30ish items or less) instrument to measure psychological absorption. I am aware of the Tellegen Absorption scale as a premiere in this area but it is restricted by Minnesota Press and may not be used in online samples (e.g., MTurk). What are some viable alternatives to measure absorption/engrossment in imagination?
