A Structural Summary Approach for the MMPI-A: Development and Empirical Correlates

The 69 scales and subscales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) are highly intercorrelated and furnish redundant information concerning adolescents' personality functioning. A recent study by Archer, Belevich, and Elkins (1994) identified eight scale-level factors for the MMPI-A. In this article we present a Structural Summary of the MMPI-A based on the scale-level factor structure of this instrument and describe the development and organization of a Structural Summary form. We also provide new research data concerning the empirical correlates of the Structural Summary factors for the MMPI-A normative sample, and for a clinical sample of 122 adolescents, which clarifies the characteristics measured by these dimensions. The Structural Summary approach cuts across the largely arbitrary distinctions between basic, content, and supplementary scales and permits a more organized and parsimonious interpretive approach. Future research should be directed toward further refinement of methods for using the Structural Summary dimensions in clinical practice.