| The present study examined T-scores of Sexual Assault, Military Combat, and individuals who Witnessed Death. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) Clinical Scales, Content Scales, and Supplementary Scales were used to explore whether score elevations could provide information regarding manifestation of trauma symptoms. It was predicted that the Sexual Assault Group would elevate scales indicative of internalizing symptom manifestation, whereas the Military Combat Group would elevate scales indicative of externalizing symptom manifestation. This study included comparisons between the three groups on eight MMPI-2 scales, including Depression, Psychopatic Deviant, Social Introversion, Anger, Antisocial Practices, Low Self-Esteem, and the Social Discomfort Scale.;The sample consisted of 70 participants, 23 Sexual Assault, 23 Military Combat, and 24 individuals who Witnessed Death. The Militray Combat Group was removed from this study due to the likelihood that they were job seeking individuals and not comparable to the trauma groups. Results did not yield significance for all four hypotheses, however, scale endorsements of both the Sexual Assault Group and the Witnessed Death Group were very similar. These results suggest that regardless of the traumatic event the symptom manifestation post-trauma are the same. There are several limitations to the present study, including the use of archival data, the exclusion of the Military Combat Group, the likelihood that the trauma groups were in litigation and had possible incentives of overrepporting, thirty-six profiles were invalid due to excessive endorsements on Validity Scale F (T = >110), limited demographic information, and small sample sizes. This study contributes to MMPI-2 personality data for trauma reactions in the context of symptom manifestation. |
