Standardization of the Chinese MMPI-A in Hong Kong: A Preliminary Study

The Chinese Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescents (MMPI-A) was applied in Hong Kong to a normative sample of 565 male and 664 female students ages 14-18. The Chinese adolescents' MMPI-A T scores based on the U.S. adolescent norms were elevated more than 1 SD on Scale 2. Similar elevations were found on Scale L (Lie) for the female students and on Scale A-lse (Adolescent Low Self-Esteem) for the male students. Moderate elevations were also shown on several scales, although none of the clinical scales exceeded a T score of 65, the clinical cutoff point based on U.S. norms. Whether these elevations were due to cultural differences in item interpretation or higher levels of psychopathology among the Hong Kong students cannot be concluded from the present data. However, previous findings on the Chinese MMPI favors the former explanation. These cultural differences should be taken into consideration in clinical interpretations of elevated scores on the Chinese MMPI-A.