The MMPI-2 and now the MMPI-3 are the most widely used test in custody / parental allocation evaluations.
Divorce lawyers and family lawyers must know how the test operates because of its use and misuse. You need to understand how the test scores correlate to other indications of what’s in the best interest of the children. When reviewing the test results, the lawyers, judges need to consider the incentive to try to present oneself favorably during a custody evaluation. At the more extreme side we have a “fake good” profile. The MMPI-3 now calls this the “uncommon virtue” scale.
The validity scales built into the MMPI-2 help counter and help quantify this tendency. Yet interpreting the MMPI content scales ever, remains problematic because of the prevalence of under-reporting. So, here Attorney Gunnar Gitlin provides an overview of the MMPI-2 test and so that you can better understand the impact of the test results when reviewing a custody evaluation.
