Evaluating the Measurement Invariance of MMPI-2-RF Restructured Clinical Scale 4 (Antisocial Behavior) between American and Korean Clinical Samples: Exploring Cultural and Translation Issues Affecting Item Responding.

Establishing the cross-cultural measurement invariance of psychometric scales is considered an essential step before scale means are compared across cultures. Although the MMPI instruments have been extensively researched, few studies have examined the measurement equivalence of MMPI scales in cross-cultural research. This study examined the measurement invariance of MMPI-2-RF Restructured Clinical Scale 4 (RC4; Antisocial Behavior) using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis with American and Korean clinical samples by (a) comparing a rationally-derived four-factor model (School Problems, Substance Abuse, Family Problems, and Violation of Social Norms) with a one-factor model, and (b) examining the measurement invariance of the RC4 four-factor model. After adjusting for age and gender, partial scalar invariance was achieved, and six non-invariant items were identified, most of which centered around substance abuse. Results support the generalizability of the four factors across cultures; however, special attention is needed when using substance abuse items with Korean clinical populations. Plausible sources of item non-invariance were explored in the context of translation challenges and observed patterns of relationship with external measures.

Examining verbal and physical retaliation against kinship insults.

This study examined how different types of insults-social status insults and reproductive status insults--toward one's family and friends influenced the likelihood of verbal and physical retaliation. Participants were given a questionnaire containing scenarios in which a hypothetical person insulted each participant's sibling, cousin, or friend. Participants indicated they were significantly less likely to verbally retaliate when a cousin was insulted than when a sibling or friend was insulted. Men were more likely to physically retaliate toward male insulters. Women were more likely to physically retaliate toward female insulters. Women were more likely to verbally retaliate than men, but only when the insulter was female. Both men and women were more likely to retaliate when a woman was insulted.

Development and validation of culture-specific Variable Response Inconsistency and True Response Inconsistency scales for use with the Korean MMPI-2.

In response to the concern that Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher, W. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989; J. N. Butcher et al., 2001) Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN) and True Response Inconsistency (TRIN) score invalidity criteria recommended for use with American samples results in an excessive number of exclusions in Asian samples (F. M. Cheung, W. Z. Song, & J. X. Zhang, 1996), we examined the cross cultural equivalence of the original VRIN and TRIN scales, and developed and validated Korean-specific VRIN and TRIN scales with Korean adult normative, clinical, and college samples. Although the results from item pair correlation analyses suggested the superiority of the Korean VRIN and TRIN over the original VRIN and TRIN, the mean comparison results and classification accuracy statistics using data with varying degrees of randomly inserted true and/or false responses did not reveal a strong advantage of one version over the other. We present and discuss plausible causes of the findings.