Culture specific MMPI norms for a sample of Northern Ontario Indians / by Karen Charles. --

The most recent controversy to arise in the area of ethnic \nexceptions to normative data in the use of the MMPI centers on \nthe establishment of minority norms. Significant general profile \nand specific scale elevations have been reported for a number of \nethnic groups and although research with American and Canadian \nIndians is limited, consistent elevations have been reported for \nboth psychiatric and normal samples. In light of these findings, \narguments proposing the establishment of culture specific norms \nfor Indian populations have arisen in the literature. The \npurpose of the present study therefore was to examine the \nutility of compiling native norms for a primarily Ojibway and \nCree population in the region north of Lake Superior. The \nsample consisted of 47 males and 56 females ranging in age from \n18 to 58 years. Group Form MMPIs were administered and \ndemographic questionnaires accompanied the test. Two tailed \nz-tests were performed on the 13 scales with and without K. All \nmeans were found to be significantly different from the \npopulation of Minnesota normals. In light of the recent \ncontroversy surrounding the comparison of mean differences, \nresults are discussed in terms of proportions of individuals \nscoring greater than T=70 on individual K corrected scales. In \nview of the results, it was concluded that normal native scores \nare extreme enough to result in the misclassification of 50% of the population on scales F, D, PD+K, PA, PT+K, SC+K, and MA+K. \nWith the exception of pathological groups, results from the \npresent study indicating extreme elevations differ from those of \nprevious studies in terms of the degree of deviation observed. \nDisconcordance is thought to be reflective of variability \nintroduced by methodological, regional, socioeconomic, and \nacculturation differences and is believed to be further evidence \nfor the establishment of regional ethnic norms. Since it was \ndetermined that standard norms are inappropriate for use with \nthe Indian population in question, K corrected raw scores \nobtained from the native sample were transformed to a \ndistribution having a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10 \nfor each scale. Raw score conversion tables and profile sheets \nwere then derived for each sex. However, while the present \nresearch demonstrated that the Minnesota norms are not valid for \nuse with the Indian population in northern Ontario, the clinical \nutility of local norms in the diagnosis of pathological \nindividuals remains in question since it has not been \ndemonstrated that the usual interpretation of elevated scales \nwill be equally applicable to profiles plotted against local \nnorms. It is suggested that future research be directed at an \nexamination of the validity of the MMPI in the detection of \npathological Indian subgroups in the region for which these \nnorms have been developed.

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