The Italian version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF): A cross-cultural replication of the factor structure

Aim. The MMPI-2-RF is a recently developed version of the MMPI-2; a distinctive feature of the RF is that the various clinical scales are arranged hierarchically. Three Higher Order (H-O) scales were developed to broadly represent the traditional psychopathological categories: Emotional/Internalizing Dysfunction (EID), Thought Dysfunction (THD), and Behavioral/Externalizing Dysfunction (BXD). These H-O scales correspond to the highest level, while the Restructured clinical scales (RC) represent the middle level. The focus of our study is on the cross-cultural replication of the factor structure of the Italian version of the MMPI-2-RF. Method. The Italian sample consisted of 617 men and 617 women (mean age respectively 31 + 10 and 31 + 13 years). The Italian version was found to be highly comparable to the English one. A principal axis extraction and varimax rotation factor analysis was used to analyze scores concerning HO and RC Scales. Results. Factor loadings showed a first factor (EID) marked high loadings for RCd, RC2, and RC7; a second factor (THD) characterized by high loadings for RC6, and RC8; and third one (BXD) with high loadings for RC4, and RC9. Discussion. The replication of the factor analysis – conducted following the procedure utilized for the American sample – showed equivalent results when applied to the Italian sample.