1. MMPI-2 Items by NEO-PI-R Facet Limitations & Future Directions
Measuring Openness to Experience with the MMPI-2
Andrew Cox & Nathan C. Weed
Introduction
Participants
MMPI-2 Items by NEO-PI-R Facet
Conclusions
Openness is the fifth factor of the five factor model of personality (FFM). Costa & McCrae (1992) define it as the confluence of “active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, intellectual curiosity, and independence of judgment.”
Openness is related to a number of clinical phenomena.
It has a positive relationship with Cluster B personality disorders and a negative relationship with Schizoid Personality Disorder.
Some of its features are related to increased depressive affect, whereas others predict response to treatment for depression.
Openness moderates the relationship between task variety and job satisfaction.
Those higher in openness tend to enjoy thinking more and are more flexible problem-solvers.
There have been no attempts to measure openness directly using the MMPI-2. Two principal components analyses of the entire item pool indicate the presence of possible markers.
Johnson et al. (1984) found 21 principal components, 5 resembling aspects of openness.
Costa et al. (1985) found 9 principal components, 3 resembling aspects of openness.
Central Michigan University (CMU) archival data (n = 318)
This sample was used to construct and refine the scale.
University of Mississippi (UMS) archival data
(n = 221)
This sample was used to reexamine the scale’s psychometric properties.
Both samples were about 85% Caucasian and 60% female.
[Items expurgated for web uploading in deference to University of Minnesota copyright]
A number of MMPI-2 items are sensitive to openness.
Attempts to measure openness tend to be confounded by content from other constructs.
Procedures designed to reduce the influence of gender and neuroticism tended to reduce reliability & concurrent validity substantially.
The prominence of these confounds is consistent with previous findings by Johnson et al. (1984) and Costa et al. (1985).
The items presented here represent the most successful markers of openness within the
MMPI-2.
Although this 47-item composite is the best representation of Openness within the MMPI-2, it does not possess psychometric properties adequate to justify routine clinical use, and should be used only for research purposes.
Results
A total of 53 items were found to be related to the domain of openness (r ≥ .15). The final composite contained 47 items.
The reliability of the MMPI-2 composite is low.
The relationships of the MMPI-2 composite with NEO-PI-R Openness and its facets are strong in the CMU sample, but substantially weaker and inconsistent in the UMS sample.
The relationships of the MMPI-2 composite and NEO-PI-R Openness with other NEO-PI-R personality variables are similar.
Component Structure
CMU Sample: accounted for 30.4% of the variance.
Component 1: Mixture of Fantasy, Aesthetics, & Feelings
Component 2: Values
Component 3: Ideas
Component 4: Actions
Component 5: Positive Feelings
Component 6: Negative Feelings
UMS Sample: accounted for 32.6% of the variance.
Component 1: Ideas
Components 2 – 6: mixtures of features of openness
Procedures & Analyses
The goal of this investigation was to determine whether
a scale of FFM openness to experience could be
developed using the MMPI-2 item pool. In order to do
so, the following intermediary goals were established.
Identify items related to openness.
Correlate the entire MMPI-2 item pool with NEO-PI-R facet scales of openness.
2. Combine items related to openness to create a scale, and refine the scale to its highest psychometric quality.
Calculate Cronbach’s α, mean inter-item correlation, and correlation with NEO-PI-R parent scales.
Eliminate items detracting from reliability and face validity.
3. Determine the component structure of the scale.
Conduct a principal components analysis with forced 6-component solution and oblimin rotation.
4. Confirm the scale’s psychometric adequacy in a second sample.
Repeat the analyses in steps 2 and 3 with a different sample.
Limitations & Future Directions
Alternative methods
Allowing good items to overlap between facets may have increased the reliability & concurrent validity of the facet scales, at the cost of reducing their distinctiveness.
Eliminating face invalid items first may have increased the efficiency of later refinement procedures.
Alternative conceptualization
The MMPI-2 was not created to measure normal range personality traits.
It is possible that pathological variants of openness (“rigidity” at the low end, or “identity diffusion” at the high end, for example) may be better candidates for measurement with the MMPI-2.