Predictive Validity of the MMPI-2 PSY-5 Scales and Facets for Law Enforcement Officer Employment Outcomes

Abstract

Several Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) scales and facets showed small to medium levels of predictive validity in identifying law enforcement officer applicants who would later be forced to leave their agencies ( n = 436 still employed, n = 164 forced to leave agency). The PSY-5 measures were moderately to strongly associated with measures of positive impression management (L and K scales), although the direction of these associations sometimes varied for facets of the same PSY-5 scale (e.g., Disconstraint, Introversion/Low Positive Emotionality). The predictive effects of the PSY-5 were often observed only in officers without significant levels of impression management (L ≤ 55T, K ≤ 65T). The PSY-5 scales and facets were not especially useful for predicting on-the-job misconduct.