Patterns of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) validity scale elevation across veterans seen in a Veterans Affairs (VA) assessment clinic: The impact of compensation status.

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to provide descriptive information on veteran response styles for compensation and pension (C&P) evaluations Veterans Affairs (VA) referral types using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), which has well-supported embedded validity scales capturing invalid response styles. The total sample included 356 veterans from a single VA psychological testing clinic who were administered the MMPI-2-RF during a broader psychological evaluation, with 201 veterans undergoing C&P evaluations. This study examines frequencies of protocol invalidity based on the MMPI-2-RF's validity scales and provides comprehensive descriptive findings on validity scale scores across appointment types (i.e., C&P and non-C&P). Three distinct trends emerged: (1) Veterans generally produced valid MMPI-2-RF profiles, (2) when more than one elevation emerges, it is likely to be thematically consistent (e.g., overreporting scales), and (3) overreporting generally captured the highest frequency of validity scale elevations relative to underreporting or noncontent-based invalid responding. Implications and limitations for practice and the utility of the MMPI-2-RF within VA testing clinics are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).