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Objective, reliable and valid means of assessing the cognitive and psychosocial functionings of elderly persons are in demand for several reasons. Clinical needs for initial assessment, placement, and treatment monitoring are supplemented by the need for research tools for program evaluation and clinical trials. The set of behavior rating scales called the Multidimensional Observation Scale for Elderly Subjects (MOSES) was developed with these needs in mind. This paper describes the development of the MOSES scale and its rationale and norming on 2,391 residents of hospitals and residential settings. Internal consistency reliabilities in the .8 range and interrater reliabilities from .58 to .97 are reported. Validity correlations with the Zung Depression, Robertson Short Mental Status, Kingston Dementia, and the Physical and Mental Impairment-of-function Evaluation (PAMIE) scales were all satisfactory. The applications and advantages of the use of MOSES are discussed.

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Alexithymia is a dimensional personality construct that encompasses a cluster of cognitive and affective characteristics relating to difficulty identifying and describing feelings, limited imaginal capacity, and having an externally oriented thinking style. Attempts to explain the etiology of high levels of alexithymia have resulted in disagreements regarding the relationship between alexithymia and psychological defense mechanisms. Much of the previous research suggests strong associations between alexithymia and immature or maladaptive defense styles. To examine these relationships using correlations, multiple regression and factor analytic techniques, three nonclinical populations in Australia and Canada were studied with a view to evaluating the association of defense mechanisms and response styles with alexithymia. Our results support the association of alexithymia with emotional inhibition, but extend those associations to immature defense styles and aspects of social desirability.

Many concerns have been raised about the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), but the emphasis on continuity during its revision precluded addressing many of these problems in the new MMPI-2. In this review, problems with the MMPI and MMPI-2 are explicated in an effort to promote more informed use of this and other tests of psychopathology. Major theoretical concerns include the lack of a consistent measurement model, heterogeneous scale content, and suspect diagnostic criteria. Serious structural problems include the overlap among scales, lack of cross-validation of the scoring keys, inadequacy of measures of response styles, and suspect norms. Six minor problems and new issues for the MMPI-2 are also discussed. It is concluded that although the MMPI-2 is an improvement over the MMPI, both are suboptimal from the perspective of modern psychometric standards for the assessment of psychopathology.The recent introduction of the long-awaited revision of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; Hathaway & McKinley, 1967) is an appropriate point for reflection on the nature of the MMPI and its relationship to advances in the assessment of psychopathology. The MMPI is the most widely used objective test of personality (Piotrowski & Keller, 1989), with both strong adherents and notable critics (Benton, 1949;Jackson, 1982). The inventory evokes very equivocal commentary in basic texts, which is in contrast to its wide clinical use (Anastasi, 1988;Cronbach, 1990). Despite the challenges to its basic nature and uses, its applications continue to multiply. Hathaway, who is credited with designing the MMPI (cf. Meehl, 1989), expressed dissatisfaction with progress in advancing assessment with the MMPI and noted that researchers were "prolific in publication and comparatively illiterate in reading and acting upon the writings of others" (Hathaway, 1972, p. 42).Several years ago, Faschingbauer (1979) addressed the question, "Does the MMPI have a future?" Practitioners are now determining that future by either adopting the new MMPI-2