Interpretation problems with the BASC-3 SRP-A F Index for patients with depressive disorders: An initial analysis and proposal for future research.

The Behavioral Assessment System for Children, 3rd edition (BASC-3) is a commonly used clinical assessment to evaluate a variety of behavioral and emotional concerns in children and adolescents. The focus of the current study is on the problematic interpretation of the F Index of the BASC-3 self-report measure for adolescents (SRP-A) suffering from depressive disorders. In this study, we used data from 214 patients in an adolescent partial hospitalization program within a psychiatric facility, all of whom were administered the BASC-3 SRP-A upon intake. Results suggest that the BASC-3 SRP-A F Index may confound an invalid response style of intentional overreporting with significant psychopathology in this specific psychiatric population. Our findings raise the question of similar confounding across psychiatric diagnoses and similar interpretation problems. We encourage further studies with independent samples of adolescents with a broad spectrum of diagnoses to address this question and offer a proposal if indeed there is evidence of a more generalized problem with the SRP-A F Index. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Association between MMPI-2-RF SUB items/scale and interview-reported substance abuse history among forensic psychiatric inpatients.

The purpose of this study was to examine associations between substance use disclosure during the clinical interview and on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Substance Abuse Scale (SUB) among forensic inpatients. Of the 223 archival reports reviewed that had MMPI-2-RF data, 69% of the MMPI-2-RF protocols were valid based on standard validity criteria, resulting in a final sample of 154 patients (98 men, 56 women). We found that patients who endorsed alcohol or marijuana use during the clinical interview often concurrently denied substance use on the MMPI-2-RF SUB scale (the opposite was found for prescription drug abuse). We also found that the MMPI-2-RF SUB scale and other MMPI-2-RF externalizing scales were meaningfully associated with concurrent substance use variables from a record review form. Finally, we found that the MMPI-2-RF SUB scale demonstrated incremental validity over other MMPI-2-RF externalizing scales in the prediction of substance use problems. These results highlight the utility of SUB scale and other self-report instruments in assessing substance use problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).