In 1992, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Adolescent (MMPI-A) was developed to meet the unique experiences and needs of adolescents. Despite evidence that adolescents often demonstrate response biases in taking the MMPI-A, currently there is no method to systematically \"correct\" for the effect of test-taking attitude on profile configuration with this age group. The K-correction factor has been widely used to correct for defensiveness or underreporting of symptomatology on the MMPI among adult respondents, although results of cross-validation research on the effectiveness of the K-correction factor have been inconclusive. The present study derived age-appropriate K-weights to determine the degree to which adoption of those weights could improve test accuracy in the identification of psychopathology. This study also examined the accuracy of the MMPI-A clinical scales in classifying adolescent normals and psychiatric patients. Discriminant analyses were performed to determine the K-weight scale score combination which best predicted normal versus clinical status for each of the eight clinical scales. Hit rate analyses were used to assess whether the adoption of these K-weights would result in improved classification accuracy. Results indicated that adoption of a K-correction factor did not improve test accuracy and did not support future use of a K-correction factor in scoring MMPI-A protocols.
","abstract_html":"<p>In 1992, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Adolescent (MMPI-A) was developed to meet the unique experiences and needs of adolescents. Despite evidence that adolescents often demonstrate response biases in taking the MMPI-A, currently there is no method to systematically "correct" for the effect of test-taking attitude on profile configuration with this age group. The K-correction factor has been widely used to correct for defensiveness or underreporting of symptomatology on the MMPI among adult respondents, although results of cross-validation research on the effectiveness of the K-correction factor have been inconclusive. The present study derived age-appropriate K-weights to determine the degree to which adoption of those weights could improve test accuracy in the identification of psychopathology. This study also examined the accuracy of the MMPI-A clinical scales in classifying adolescent normals and psychiatric patients. Discriminant analyses were performed to determine the K-weight scale score combination which best predicted normal versus clinical status for each of the eight clinical scales. Hit rate analyses were used to assess whether the adoption of these K-weights would result in improved classification accuracy. Results indicated that adoption of a K-correction factor did not improve test accuracy and did not support future use of a K-correction factor in scoring MMPI-A protocols.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Alperin, Jody Jacobson"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Robert P. Archer","John David Ball","Michael L. Stutts","Alex Caldwell","Glynn D. Coates"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1995,"date_issued":"1995-04-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1995-04-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:34:31Z","subjects":["K-correction factor","MMPI-A","Personality and Social Contexts","Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy","Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_etds/188","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Robert P. Archer","John David Ball","Michael L. Stutts","Alex Caldwell","Glynn D. Coates"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Alperin, Jody Jacobson"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-04-05T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["K-correction factor","MMPI-A","Personality and Social Contexts","Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy","Psychology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
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"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Development of a K-correction Factor for the MMPI-A"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Robert P. Archer","John David Ball","Michael L. Stutts","Alex Caldwell","Glynn D. Coates"],"dc:creator":["Alperin, Jody Jacobson"],"dc:date.available":["2019-04-05T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In 1992, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Adolescent (MMPI-A) was developed to meet the unique experiences and needs of adolescents. Despite evidence that adolescents often demonstrate response biases in taking the MMPI-A, currently there is no method to systematically \"correct\" for the effect of test-taking attitude on profile configuration with this age group. The K-correction factor has been widely used to correct for defensiveness or underreporting of symptomatology on the MMPI among adult respondents, although results of cross-validation research on the effectiveness of the K-correction factor have been inconclusive. The present study derived age-appropriate K-weights to determine the degree to which adoption of those weights could improve test accuracy in the identification of psychopathology. This study also examined the accuracy of the MMPI-A clinical scales in classifying adolescent normals and psychiatric patients. Discriminant analyses were performed to determine the K-weight scale score combination which best predicted normal versus clinical status for each of the eight clinical scales. Hit rate analyses were used to assess whether the adoption of these K-weights would result in improved classification accuracy. Results indicated that adoption of a K-correction factor did not improve test accuracy and did not support future use of a K-correction factor in scoring MMPI-A protocols.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_etds/188"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
"],"dc:subject":["K-correction factor","MMPI-A","Personality and Social Contexts","Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy","Psychology"],"dc:title":["Development of a K-correction Factor for the MMPI-A"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:34:31Z"}