The detection of fake-bad and fake-good responding on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the 3 Modifying Indices of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III (MCMI-III) in the detection of fake-bad and fake-good responding. The sample consisted of 160 psychiatric outpatients. Paired t tests were performed to examine the effects of instructional set (faking vs. standard instructions). As hypothesized, instructional set produced significant differences on Scale X, Scale Y, and Scale Z in both fake-bad and fake-good analyses. Single-scale cutoff scores were as effective as multiple-scale cutoffs. The overall rates of successful classification indicated moderate effectiveness and utility of the MCMI-III Modifying Indices in the detection of dissimulated responding. When base rates were varied to more closely approximate a general clinical population, overall classification accuracy increased, but identification of faking (positive predictive power) gradually eroded with declining base-rate estimates. At lower base rates of faking, MCMI-III standard cutoff points yielded a high number of false positives.

How useful are indices of personality pathology when assessing domestic violence perpetrators?

“…We also found response bias to be a very important consideration in assessment of the prevalence of personality pathology, since this may skew prevalence estimates of this dimension of male DV perpetrators (Daubert & Metzler, 2000). In our sample the overall rates of significant Disclosure, Desirability, and Debasement scores were quite close to the figures for Millon's clinical sample (Millon et al, 1997), suggesting that our sample was not overrepresented by men with response patterns associated with either minimization or exaggeration of personality pathology.…”

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Assessing Response Style and Malingering

“…The Millon Multiaxial Clinical Inventory III (Millon et al 1997) Authors have long questioned the validity scales of the Millon Multiaxial Clinical Inventory III (MCMI-III) (2007) concluded, "The MCMI-III does not appear to be a viable choice for detecting feigned psychiatric symptoms" (p. 257), citing problems with the initial construction, only two published studies (Daubert and Metzler 2000;Schoenberg et al 2003), modest sensitivity and specificity, and lack of known group studies. Sellbom and Bagby (2008) were even more emphatic, stating, "Under no circumstances should practitioners use this instrument in forensic evaluations to determine response style" (p. 205).…”

Do tests of malingering concur? Concordance among malingering measures

“…Although the test's manual proposes that raw scores above 178 on Scale X denote excessive symptom exaggeration, no cutoff scores are recommended for use with Scale Z beyond the suggestion that base rate scores above 85 tend to be associated with malingering (Millon, 1994;Millon et al, 1997). Few studies have explored the ability of the MCMI-III to detect malingering, and those that exist have typically suggested poor classification accuracy for this measure (Daubert & Metzler, 2000;Schoenberg, Dorr, & Morgan, 2003).…”