Characteristics of the MMPI-2 F(p ) Scale as a Function of Diagnosis in an Inpatient Sample of Veterans

Recently, a new infrequent response indicator, Frequency psychopathology, F ( p ), was developed for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 ( P. Arbisi & Y. Ben-Porath, 1995 ). F ( p ) has potential to provide users with a better understanding of elevations on Frequency ( F ) and F -back ( F B ) in settings where such elevations are commonly observed because it is less influenced by the confounding effects of distress and psychopathology. The study reports F, F B , and F ( p ) scale characteristics from 308 male psychiatric inpatients by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.) diagnosis. The mean F ( p ) scale score uniformly fell considerably below scores on F and F B and was independent of diagnosis. These findings provide further support for the use of F ( p ) as a sensitive index of profile invalidity in psychiatric populations.