Behavioral correlates for within-normal-limit MMPI profiles with and without elevated K in students at a university mental health center.

Young adults who were attending a college student mental health center and who obtained MMPI profiles with clinical scales within normal limits with and without elevated K were compared to all other patients at the center on 175 descriptors obtained from intake interviews. Those items that discriminated (x2, p less than .05) students who obtained these profile types from others are reported as tentative MMPI interpretive correlates for patients in similar settings. Correlates ranged from those indicative of situational difficulties to serious psychopathology, and clear sex differences were present. It is concluded that within-normal-limit profiles do not indicate psychological normality when they occur in such a setting and that useful interpretive information can be identified for these, as well as clinically elevated profile types.