Parent MMPI critical item and clinical scale changes in the 1970s.

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service of the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, Columbia, South Carolina, routinely administers the MMPI to the parents of children and adolescents in outpatient psychiatric treatment. The MMPI data obtained from parents during the (1970-74) and (1975-79) periods (N = 342) have been analyzed from two perspectives. MMPI critical item endorsement and MMPI clinical scale changes have been evaluated statistically through a comparison of parents in the two time periods. Both the increase in clinical scale elevations and shift in critical item endorsement suggest a parent population in which mothers are suffering considerably more psychological distress or psychopathology than fathers during the last 5 years. The findings indicate the need for cross-clinic replications of the present investigation in order to establish the reliability of the current findings.