Selected MMPI Items That Identified College Women Who Reported Early Sexual Abuse

• NCJ Number: 122240
• Journal: Psychological Reports Volume: 63 Issue: 2 Dated: (October 1988) Pages: 447-450
• Author(s): B C Roland; P F Zelhart; R Dubes
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined whether MMPI items could be used to discriminate between 41 college women who reported having experienced sexual abuse as children and 73 who did not report childhood sexual abuse.

Abstract

A set of 63 items were identified which correctly classified 84 percent of the subjects. However, there was considerable misclassification of the group who reported abuse (29 percent). Perhaps so many variables associated with assault (e.g., age at occurrence, relation of victim to abuser, whether pain was inflicted) might indicate some women who reported abuse were not traumatized by the experience. This study could indicate that the MMPI may be an important instrument in identifying and assessing the personality of women who report child sexual abuse. More work should be done to assess whether the MMPI is sensitive to measured severity of trauma associated with types of sexual assaults. (Author abstract modified)