International Adaptations of the MMPI-2: Research and Clinical Applications

The most widely used objective clinical test of personality is the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory-2 (MMPI-2), a revised version of the original test that was published in 1989. One of the proven strengths of the test is its adaptability to a large variety of cultures and languages. representing a truly international collaboration, this book discusses cross-national personality assessment research generally and provides documentation on the adaptation of the MMPI-2 into other languages. The fifty-six contributors to this volume provide detailed accounts of translation and research conducted around the world, demonstrating the growing clinical research basis of the text. Beginning with some general methodological chapters, the book presents a number of issues and practical problems related to the translation of personality inventories. Information from several translation projects is used to provide detailed illustrations of how translation difficulties were dealt with in different cultural contexts employing different translation techniques. A separate chapter addresses some model approaches to testing the equivalence of psychological tests in cross-cultural settings. In the next section of the book, the contributors describe the process by which the test has been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Hmong, Flemish/Dutch, Norwegian, Icelandic, Russian, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. Several chapters address "international" applications within the United States - for example, the use of the MMPI-2 with Asian Americans and the importance of considering an individual's level of acculturation when using the test.