The MMPI-2 L scale as a tool in police selection

Weiss, William U.; Davis, Robert D.; Rostow, Cary D.; Kinsman, Sarah

doi:10.1007/bf02802608

Cited by 19 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Therefore, a somewhat higher cutoff than the MMPI-2 norm of 65 should perhaps be required before eliminating an officer from the applicant pool. Weiss et al (2003) have previously recommended a raw score cutoff of 8 (T=71), which is consistent with this particular finding.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Impression Management in Police Officer Candidacy on the MMPI-2

Weiss

Cain

et al. 2009

J Police Crim Psych

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It is well documented that candidates in employment situations attempt to present overly positive pictures of themselves that may be inaccurate. Police officer candidacy situations are not an exception. They are more critical to the public welfare, however, because of the sensitive nature of police officers as an interface between government and the community. For this reason, the study of impression management using devices that are employed in police selection is of great importance. This study used 36 college students to whom the MMPI-2 was administered, first under standard conditions (control condition) in which the students responded as they ordinarily would and second, under a set of special instructions (experimental condition) which instructed them to respond as if they were police officer candidates. The two profiles were compared. As hypothesized, the Lie (L) and Correction (K) scales were elevated in the experimental condition. An inspection of the clinical scales revealed that all tended to be lower in the experimental condition than in the control condition, with the exception of Masculinity-Femininity (Mf), Psychopathic Deviate (Pd), Paranoia (Pa), and Hypomania (Ma). Implications of these findings for officer candidate selection are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Impression Management in Police Officer Candidacy on the MMPI-2

Weiss

Cain

et al. 2009

J Police Crim Psych

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“…Recently, two metaanalyses (Aamodt, 2004a;Visweswaran, Ones, Cullen, Drees, & Langkamp, 2003) reiterated that police officers tend to show more positive adjustment as well as increased defensiveness when compared to the general population. Some investigators have attempted to predict future behavioral problems in law enforcement candidates, but most have not specifically focused on this issue, looking instead at general job performance (Azen, Snibble, & Montgomery, 1973;Bartol, 1982Bartol, , 1991Beutler, Storm, Kirkish, Scogin, & Gaines, 1985;Blau, Super, & Brady, 1993;Brewster & Stoloff, 1999;Cortina, Doherty, Scmitt, Kaufman, & Smith, 1992;Hargrave & Berner, 1984;Hiatt & Hargrave, 1988b;Weiss, Davis, Rostow, & Kinsman, 2003). As a group, these studies have shown that poorer performers show higher scores on the Lie (L) Validity scale, Clinical scales 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, and MacAndrews Alcoholism scale (MAC), and lower scores on Clinical Scale 3.…”

Section: Use Of the Mmpi/mmpi-2 In Police Applicant Screeningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Mmpi-2 Predictors of Police Officer Integrity and Misconduct

Sellbom

Fischler²,

Ben‐Porath

2007

Criminal Justice and Behavior

102

127

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The study examined the validity of scores on pre-hire administration of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) Clinical, Restructured Clinical (RC), and Substance Abuse scales in predicting behavioral misconduct in police officers. The effects of range restriction on predictive validity were examined and corrected for in the analyses. Data from 291 male police officers were analyzed. Outcome measures included Internal Affairs complaints, Civilian Review Authority complaints, involuntary termination from department, and supervisory ratings. Results indicated that the RC scales (particularly RC3, RC4, RC6, and RC8) exhibited the best predictive validity and further challenged the utility of the K-correction of the Clinical scales. Predictive validity was moderate to strong when disattenuating correlations for range restriction. Relative risk analyses revealed that lower cutoffs for MMPI-2 scales (e.g., T = 60 and, in some cases, T = 55) maximized the prediction of police officer misconduct.

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“…Since the MMPI-2’s release in 1989, a number of studies have supported its ability to predict future job performance and behavioral problems among police officers (Azen, Snibbe, & Montgomery, 1973; Bartol, 1982, 1991; Blau, Super, & Brady, 1993; Boes, Chandler, & Timm, 1997; Brewster & Stoloff, 1999; Cortina, Doherty, Kaufman, & Smith, 1992; Hiatt & Hargrave, 1988; Ones, Viswesvaran, Cullen, Drees, & Langkamp, 2003; Scogin, Schumacher, Gardner, & Chaplin, 1995; Sellbom, Fischler, & Ben-Porath, 2007; Weiss, Davis, Rostow, & Kinsman, 2003). Taken as a whole, these studies demonstrated the utility of the test’s Clinical Scales in the prediction of posthire problem behaviors.…”

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confidence: 99%

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2–Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Predictors of Police Officer Problem Behavior

Tarescavage

Corey²,

Ben‐Porath

2014

Assessment

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) in a sample of law enforcement officers. MMPI-2-RF scores were collected from preemployment psychological evaluations of 136 male police officers, and supervisor ratings of performance and problem behavior were subsequently obtained during the initial probationary period. The sample produced meaningfully lower and less variant substantive scale scores than the general population and the MMPI-2-RF Police Candidate comparison group, which significantly affected effect sizes for the zero-order correlations. After applying a correction for range restriction, MMPI-2-RF substantive scales demonstrated moderate to strong associations with criteria, particularly in the Emotional Dysfunction and Interpersonal Functioning domains. Relative risk ratio analyses showed that cutoffs of 45T and 50T maintained reasonable selection ratios because of the exceptionally low scores in this sample and were associated with significantly increased risk for problematic behavior. These results provide support for the predictive validity of the MMPI-2-RF substantive scales in this setting. Implications of these findings and limitations of these results are discussed.

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The MMPI-2 L scale as a tool in police selection

Cited by 19 publications

References 3 publications

Impression Management in Police Officer Candidacy on the MMPI-2

Impression Management in Police Officer Candidacy on the MMPI-2

Identifying Mmpi-2 Predictors of Police Officer Integrity and Misconduct

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2–Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Predictors of Police Officer Problem Behavior

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