The results show the potential usefulness of the MMPI-2 in the differential diagnosis of chronic alcoholism and Korsakoff's disease.

This study investigated the utility of the MMPI-2-based Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) scales (Harkness, McNulty, & Ben-Porath, 1995) in the outcome prediction of behaviorally oriented chronic-pain treatment. The PSY-5 is a dimensional descriptive system for personality and its disorders. The sample consisted of 120 consecutive chronic-back-pain patients who followed a 4-week multimodal treatment program aimed at achieving a normal pattern of functioning, including return to regular work. The psychometric properties of the PSY-5 scales (Aggressiveness, Psychoticism, Constraint, Negative Emotionality/Neuroticism, and Positive Emotionality/Extraversion) were highly similar to the data reported by Harkness et al. (1995) and also corresponded to the characteristics of chronic-pain patients. The results of the hierarchical regression analyses provided support for the utility of the PSY-5 Positive Emotionality/Extraversion scale for the prediction of emotionally oriented outcome. We conclude that the PSY-5 model of personality psychopathology provides a solid basis for the more systematic study of the complex relation between personality characteristics and multidimensional treatment.

was examined in relation to a number of physical and psychosocial measures of treatment outcome in patients reporting chronic back pain. MMPI-2 scales assessing manifestations of emotional distress were considered: anxiety (Scale 7 [Pi]: Anxiety [ANX\ and Obsessiveness [OBS]), depression (Scale 2 [D]: Depression [DEP]), and somatic discomfort (Scale 1 [Hs]: Lassitude-Malaise [Hy3], Somatic Complaints [Hy4], and Health Concerns [HEA]). The outcome results at 6-month follow-up for 120 patients who participated in a 4-week outpatient multimodal treatment program were examined. Results showed several of the selected scales to be predictive of less improvement, depending on the outcome measures used.

The Executive Function Index (EFI) is a short self-report questionnaire for the assessment of executive functions (EF) as encountered in daily life. The aim of the present study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the EFI (EFI-NL) in a college student sample (N = 376). Internal structure was analyzed using a principal components analysis with varimax rotation, followed by parallel analysis. This resulted in a five-factor solution accounting for 44.3% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha was acceptable for the EFI total score (alpha = 0.73), but internal scale consistencies were lower, ranging from 0.41 to 0.69. In comparison with the original United States sample both similarities and differences emerged. Although the five-factor structure as found in the U.S. sample did not provide a completely adequate fit for the present data, several equivalent factors were found. The (cross-cultural) differences were discussed against the background of possible disturbing factors, such as gender, age, and educational level. In general, the results lend support for the use of the EFI-NL as a self-report measure. However, replication of the factor structure and scale results in different samples is needed to disentangle the differential effects of age, gender, and item translation.

The authors investigated cross-cultural replicability of the five-factor model (FFM) of personality as represented by the revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) in a sample of 423 Dutch psychiatric patients. Also, NEO-PI-R domain scales were compared with the Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5; A. R. Harkness & J. L. McNulty, 1994) scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 2002). Principal-components analysis with procrustean rotation confirmed the hypothesized structural similarity of the present sample with the U.S. normative factor scores. All of the hypothesized relations between NEO-PI-R and PSY-5 scales were confirmed. The results provide evidence for cross-cultural replicability of the FFM and for validity of the NEO-PI-R and PSY-5 constructs in the psychological assessment of psychiatric patients.