Use of the MMPI to Uncover Histories of Childhood Abuse in Adult Female Psychiatric Patients

• NCJ Number: 129990
• Journal: Journal of Clinical Psychology Volume: 46 Issue: 4 Dated: (July 1990) Pages: 392-398
• Author(s): L Goldwater; J F Duffy
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Psychiatric hospital records of 182 adult female patients were reviewed to determine the feasibility of using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to uncover repressed histories of childhood abuse.

Abstract

Charts with MMPI profiles that met the standard and extended Scarlett O'Hara V configurations were examined for histories of childhood sexual or physical abuse and exposure to parental alcoholism. Patients were divided into three groups: 18 patients who met the criterion of the standard Scarlett O'Hara V configuration as described by Greene (1980), 40 patients who met the criterion of extended Scarlett O'Hara V configurations, and 21 female patients selected at random from the MMPI as controls who met neither set of criteria. Fourteen (77.8 percent) of the 18 patients in Group 1 had been sexually or physically abused or had had an alcoholic caretaker. In Group 2, 28 of 40 (70 percent) patients were similarly abused or had an alcoholic caretaker. None of the control group had been sexually abused and 4 of the 21 (19 percent) control group patients were victims of nonsexual physical abuse or had an alcoholic caretaker. The MMPI can be used to identify patients who have histories of childhood sexual or nonsexual abuse or were reared by alcoholic caretakers. 2 tables and 14 references (Author abstract modified)