The Use of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory in the Evaluation of Seminary Students

Abstract

During the past several decades, many studies have examined the emotional and psychological functioning of clergy and seminarians. In most instances, researchers employed separate measures to study general personality characteristics as contrasted with psychopathologic factors. In this study, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) was administered to 52 first-year male seminarians at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The MCMI is designed to measure relatively fixed personality characteristics in addition to more psychopathologic factors. As expected, seminarians evidenced little psychopathology on scales designed to assess clinical symptoms. On the basic personality scales, results indicated that the typical seminarian profile would be most consistent with the “conforming” personality described by Millon (1981). Suggestions for further research are discussed.