Read the case below and answer the questions that follow:
A 22-year-old girl had been experiencing feelings of emptiness, lack of interest in all activities and sleep disturbances. She appears to be demanding, reckless, aggressive, and unable to delay gratification of needs. She has difficulty in managing anger and has emotional fluctuations. Her interpersonal relationships are also strained.
She believes she was doing reasonably well 3 years back and the problem worsened after her boards. She started to indulge in self-harm acts; the situation worsened whenever she had conflicts with her family. Eventually, she was advised to seek professional help for an adequate diagnosis of her mental health.
Identify the self-report measure that is best suited in this case:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)
The girl needs ‘an adequate diagnosis of her mental health’, so the self-report measure must be one built for diagnosing psychological disorders.
Option (1) EPQ (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire) — Incorrect. The EPQ measures the dimensions of introversion-extraversion, emotional stability-instability and psychoticism. It describes where a person stands on these traits; it is not a tool for diagnosing particular disorders.
Option (2) MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) — Correct. Hathaway and McKinley developed it as a helping tool for psychiatric diagnosis, and it has been found very effective in identifying varieties of psychopathology. Its subscales diagnose conditions such as depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate and schizophrenia, which suits her symptoms.
Option (3) 16PF (Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire) — Incorrect. Cattell’s 16PF measures sixteen basic personality factors and is most useful in career guidance, vocational exploration and occupational testing, not in diagnosis.
Option (4) MPI (Maudsley Personality Inventory) — Incorrect. The MPI is an earlier questionnaire by Eysenck that measures only two dimensions, extraversion and neuroticism; the EPQ later replaced it. Like the EPQ, it is a trait measure and not a diagnostic test.
Note: The test in Option (4), the ‘Maudsley Personality Inventory’, is not in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, nor in the NCERT book (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT (2025-26): “The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) … This inventory is widely used as a test in personality assessment. Hathaway and McKinley developed this test as a helping tool for psychiatric diagnosis, but the test has been found very effective in identifying varieties of psychopathology. Its revised version is available as MMPI-2. It consists of 567 statements. The subject has to judge each statement as ‘true’ or ‘false’ for her/ him. The test is divided into 10 subscales, which seek to diagnose hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, masculinity-femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, mania and social introversion. In India, Mallick and Joshi have developed the Jodhpur Multiphasic Personality Inventory (JMPI) along the lines of MMPI.…” “Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) … Developed by Eysenck this test initially assessed two dimensions of personality, called introverted-extraverted and emotionally stable-emotionally unstable. These dimensions are characterised by 32 personality traits. Later on, Eysenck added a third dimension, called psychoticism.…” “Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) … The test can be used with high school level students as well as with adults. It has been found extremely useful in career guidance, vocational exploration, and occupational testing.…” |