Comparison of MMPI-A characteristics between juvenile offenders and adolescents who experienced child maltreatment

Abstract

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–Adolescent (MMPI–A) is the self-report test most commonly applied to assess personality charatceristics, behavior difficulties, and psychopathology among adolescents. However, the literature on the use of the MMPI-A in different forensic populations remains limited. The current investigation was designed to identify differences in the MMPI–A scales between adolescents with a history of child maltreatment (CM), juvenile convicted of different type of 
offenses (JOs) or adolescents who never had contact with the Juvenile Justice and with no history childhood maltreatment. We found that adolescents in CM group had higher ANX, BIZ, LSE, and SOD scores compared with adolescents in JOs group; while they had higher BIZ, TRT and MAC scores compared with adolescents in control group. Adolescents in JOs group had higher LSE and MAC scores compared with adolescents in control group. Finding differences in personality profiles between different
forensic populations could lead to the creation of more appropriate treatments as well as a better understanding of the possible responses to outcomes of treatments.