Identification and Elimination of Offensive Items from the MMPI

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Abstract
The MMPI was administered to 118 mental hospital patients. With some of the patients, additional instructions directed them to omit items they considered offensive. Results indicated very little uniformity among patients as to which items were offensive. Examination of the data indicated that reliability was significantly impaired when the special instructions were used. However, no evidence of gross impairment of validity was found. The general conclusion was that MMPIs obtained with instructions to omit offensive items may be interpreted in the same manner as with regular instructions, but with caution. Summary and Conclusions: Summarizing these data as well as data presented in three other studies that have been completed on this problem, the best conclusion appears to be that most people do not object to MMPI items; however, a few people object to numerous items. While some items, some content categories, and some scales appear to be picked slightly more frequently than others, there does not appear to be any significant unanimity of agreement concerning which items should be eliminated. If Ss are given instructions to omit items which they consider offensive, it appears that the reliability of the MMPI is significantly impaired. However, there is no evidence that validity is grossly impaired. It would, therefore, appear that MMPI profiles obtained with instructions to omit offensive items can be interpreted in the same manner, as other MMPI profiles, but the interpreter should bear in mind that a degree of caution is called for due to the fact that the reliability of scores obtained in that manner is lower. Should these results be confirmed in the future, it would be advisable for agencies which have difficulty with the MMPI because of the offensive content of some of the items, to indicate to the S that he may omit items which he considers offensive. The individual who omits a large number of items will invalidate his MMPI and other means of evaluation will have to be employed, but it would not appear that this will occur frequently enough to make use of the MMPI impractical.

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