Multimethod Assessment of Interpersonal Dysfunction using the Rorschach and the MMPI-2-RF

Abstract

Well established and widely used personality measures such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) and Rorschach contain several scales or indices related to interpersonal dysfunction, but from very different methodologies. Using a multimethod assessment framework, the current study examined four primary areas of interpersonal dysfunction assessed by these measures in a sample of 65 adult outpatient clients who underwent services at a Community Psychological Services center. The four areas examined were hostility and aggression; isolation and avoidance; passivity and dependency; and insecurity and ineffectiveness. First, the study postulated that MMPI-2-RF and Rorschach variables within an interpersonal domain would correlate at a higher rate of positive correlation with each other than with variables of a different interpersonal domain. Results provided moderate support for this hypothesis within the Isolation/Avoidance domain, mild support within the Hostility/Aggression domain, minimal support within the Insecurity/Ineffectiveness domain, and no support within the Passivity/Dependency domain. Incremental validity was then assessed in terms of adding interpersonal MMPI-2-RF variables to the Rorschach, and vice versa. Hierarchical regression analyses results indicated that the MMPI-2-RF provides moderate increment in predicting to an Interpersonal Relations outcome measure when added to the Rorschach for the domains of Isolation/Avoidance (Δ R ² = .13) and Insecurity/Ineffectiveness (Δ R ² = .12). The Rorschach provides strong incremental change when added to the MMPI-2-RF in the domain of Hostility/Aggression (Δ R ² = .21). Weak support was found for incremental validity in the domain of Passivity/Dependency in either direction. However, binary logistic regression results provided additional support for the MMPI-2-RF’s incremental contribution to the Rorschach in the Isolation/Avoidance and Passivity/Dependency domains. The implications of these findings are discussed.