Relationship of the MMPI K Scale and a Measure of Self-Disclosure in a Normal Population

Bibliographic Data

ID13671281
AuthorsPhilip Himelstein (The University of Texas at El Paso, corresponding author), Bernard Lubin (Indiana Department of Mental Health)
Year1966
Volume19
Issue1
Pages166-166
Publication date1966-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychological Reports (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-2941 • E-ISSN: 1558-691X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2466/pr0.1966.19.1.166
PMID4380186
OpenAlexW2067381919
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited4

The K scale of the MMPI was originally intended as a measure of test-taking attitude, so that low K scores indicate that S is overly candid and open to self-criticism. More recent studies with nonclinical samples have emphasized interpretations of K as a measure of good emotional adjustment. Sweetland and Quay ( 1 9 5 3 ) , for example, feel that rhe scale is a measure of healthy emotional adjustment and King and Schiller (1959) interpret K as a measure of the functions pertaining to ego-strength. Heilbrun (1961) reported that, for females but not for males, K was positively related to level of psychological health, and for maladjusted Ss it was a measure of defensiveness. The present study tested the hypothesis that K , as a measure of defensiveness, is inversely related to a measure of the amount of disclosure about the self in which S engages. The latter instrument, the Self-Disclosure Inventory (SDI) described by Jourard ( 1 9 5 9 ) , is a measure of the extent of disclosure to specific rarger persons: mother, father, best male friend, and best female friend. Ss were 95 unmarried males and 8 5 females who had both parents living and in the home. A modified version of the SDI and the MMPI K scale, printed as a separate test, were administered during a single class period of an introductory psychology course. Ss were given the option of signing their names or employing a code number of their own devise. Analysis of the means of the on the SDI provides support for results previously reported by Jourard: Females disclose more than d o males, both sexes disclose more to the mother rhan to the father, and both sexes disclose more to their age peers rhan to their parents. While 6 of the 8 product-moment correlations between SDI targets and K are negative, as expected, only two are significant ( f i = .05). Both are for male Ss, with best male and female friends as target persons ( r = -.254 and -.246, respectively). The failure of the correlations for the female Ss to show any significant relationship between SDI scores and the K scale, coupled with Heilbrun's finding char K is positively related to the level of psychological health in normal females only, bupcests that K has differential meaning for males and females. For male Ss, high K may ~ndicate defensiveness, while for females a similar score may be an indication of good psychological health

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