Detecting Symptom Exaggeration and Minimization Using Translated Versions of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF: A Systematic Review and Preliminary Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Objective: This systematic review and preliminary meta-analysis examined the effectiveness of translated versions of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) in detecting response distortion (i.e., symptom exaggeration and minimization), a central concern in forensic assessment. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that translated versions of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF would generate significantly weaker effect sizes in detecting response distortion than those observed with English-language studies. Method: We identified 26 studies, representing seven language translations of the MMPI-2 (k = 20) and two of the MMPI-2-RF (k = 6). We calculated effect sizes (Cohen’s ds) based on the mean score difference between honest and nongenuine responders for each study on each symptom exaggeration (e.g., F/F-r, Fp/Fp-r) and minimization (e.g., L/L-r, K/K-r) scale examined, along with mean effect size estimates (Hedges’ g) for the Spanish and Italian translations (no other translation had more than two published studies). Results: Spanish-language studies generally produced large (d ≥ 1.25) to very large (d ≥ 1.75) effect sizes when detecting both symptom exaggeration and minimization. Italian-language studies generally produced small to moderate effect sizes when detecting symptom exaggeration and predominately moderate (d ≤ 1.25) effect sizes when detecting minimization. Significant variability within and across scales was observed in both Spanish-language and Italian-language studies. Most studies utilizing a translated version of the MMPI-2 other than Spanish or Italian produced very large (d ≥ 1.75) effect sizes when detecting symptom exaggeration and weaker (d ≤ 1.00) effect sizes when detecting minimization. Conclusions: This systematic review and preliminary meta-analysis demonstrated effect sizes that overlapped with those observed in English-language studies. Although clearly preliminary, given the limited published research to date, these data suggest that the MMPI instruments retain some utility in detecting response distortion when translated.