Criterion validity and sensitivity of the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory with refugee adolescents
Author(s):
White, Emma Tao
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : California School of Professional Psychology - Fresno, 1993.
Pages:
131
Language:
English
Abstract:
Refugee/immigrant adolescents who experience significant psychosocial stress stemming from the combined tasks of adolescent development and acculturation have been neglected by researchers. Psychametric data are sorely lacking. This study is an attempt to validate an adolescent personality inventory that may prove useful to mental health workers and school counselors. One hundred and thirty-two Hmong and Laotian teenagers completed the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory (MAPI), the Refugee Teen Behavioral Survey (RTBS), and the High School Personality Questionnaire, Factor B. The study recruited "achieving" teens (n = 79) and "marginal" teens (n = 53). After evaluation of their reading ability, 65 and 37 teens from each group, respectively, remained. However, of those, only 53 achieving and 20 marginal teens produced usable MAPI profiles. T tests showed 5 of the 20 MAPI scales to differentiate the two groups significantly: achieving teens were more Respectful and had more concern with Sexual Acceptance; while marginal teens had more problems with Impulse Control, Social Conformity, and Scholastic Achievement. Compared to U.S. norms, the refugee teens scored higher on the Inhibited and Sensitive scales and on all eight expressed concern scales (except for Social Tolerance by the achieving teens). In addition, the marginal teens scored higher on all four behavior correlates and the achieving teens on Attendance consistency. The RTBS, written to establish behavioral criterion validity for the eight personality styles of the MAPI, correlated significantly (p = $<$.01) in five scales (Introversion, Sociable, Confident, Respectful, and Sensitive). T tests of the RTBS scales indicated that achieving teens were significantly more Cooperative, Sociable, Confident, and Respectful, but less Forceful than the marginal teens. When RTBS personality style scales were correlated with length of stay in the U.S., Introversion, Inhibited, and Sociable scales correlated significantly, whereas none of the MAPI scales did. Of MAPI's remaining scales, Personal Esteem, Body Comfort, and Attendance Consistency correlated significantly positively with length of stay in U.S. MAPI's validity and reliability items and the cultural bias of the language were examined. The RTBS's superior ability to discriminate achieving and marginal teens was examined. The study's results encourage further development of a personality inventory that is usable in a refugee/immigrant adolescent population.