of the scales. to address the issues with the clinical scales, the mmpi-a underwent a revision similar to the restructuring of the mmpi-2 to the mmpi-2-rf. specifically, a demoralization scale was developed, and each clinical scale underwent exploratory factor analysis to identify its distinctive components. additionally, the specific problems (sp) scales were developed. whereas the rc scales provide a broad overview of psychological problems (e.g., low positive emotions or symptoms of depression; antisocial behavior; bizarre thoughts), the sp scales offered narrow, focused descriptions of the problems the individual reported he or she was experiencing. the mmpi-2-rf sp scales were used as a template. first, corresponding items from the mmpi-2-rf were identified in the mmpi-a, and then 58 items unique to the mmpi-a were added to the item pool. this way the mmpi-a-rf sp scales could maintain continuity with the mmpi-2-rf but also address issues specific to adolescent problems. after a preliminary set of sp scales were developed based on their content, each scale went through statistical tests (factor analysis) to make sure they did not overlap or relate too strongly to the rc demoralization scale. additional statistical analyses were done to make sure each sp scale contained items that were strongly related (correlated) with its scale and less strongly associated with other scales; in the end, each item appeared on only one sp scale. these scales were developed to provide additional information in association with the rc scales, but sp scales are not subscales and can be interpreted even when the related rc scale is not elevated. as noted above, 25 sp scales were developed. of these, 19 have the same names as the corresponding mmpi-2-rf sp scales, although the specific items that make up sp scales on each form are different. the following 5 scales were unique to the mmpi-a-rf: obsessions/compulsions (ocs), antisocial attitudes (asa), conduct problems (cnp), negative peer influence (npi) and specific fears (spf). the sp scales were organized into four groupings: somatic/cognitive, internalizing, externalizing, and interpersonal scales. the somatic/cognitive scales (mls, gic, hpc, nuc, and cog) share their names with the sp scales on the mmpi-2-rf, are related to rc1, and focus on aspects of physical health and functioning. there are nine internalizing scales. the first three (hlp, sfd, and nfc) are related to aspects of demoralization, or the general sense of unhappiness, and the remaining scales (ocs, stw, axy, anp, brf, spf) assess for dysfunctional negative emotions (e.g., a tendency toward worry, fearfulness, and anxiety). six externalizing scales (nsa, asa, cnp, sub, npi, and agg) are related to antisocial behavior, and the need for excitement and stimulating activity (i.e., hypomanic activation). finally, interpersonal scales (fml, ipp, sav, shy, and dsf), while not related to particular rc scales, focus on aspects of social and relational functioning with family and peers. additionally, the 478-item length of the mmpi-a was identified as a challenge to adolescent attention span and concentration. to address this, the mmpi-a-rf has less than half the items of the mmpi-a. higher-order scales higher-order (h-o) scales were introduced with the mmpi-2-rf and they are identical in the mmpi-a-rf and the mmpi-3. their function is to assess problems of three general areas of functioning: affective, cognitive (thought) and behavioral. abbr.namedescription eidemotional / internalizing dysfunctionproblems associated with mood and affect thdthought dysfunctionproblems associated with disordered thinking bxdbehavioral / externalizing dysfunctionproblems associated with under-controlled behavior specific problems (sp) scales abbr.namedescriptiona-rf2-rf3 somatic / cognitive mlsmalaisegeneral sense of poor physical health, weakness, and low energy gicgastrointestinal complaintscomplaints related to nausea, upset stomach, and vomiting hpchead pain complaintsreports of headaches and difficulty concentrating nucneurological complaintsdescribes loss of sensation, numbness, and lack of control over movement of body parts; dizziness eateating concernsproblematic eating behaviors cogcognitive complaintstrouble with attention and concentrating; academic and learning difficulties internalizing suisuicidal/death ideationdirect reports of suicidal ideation and recent attempts hlphelplessness/hopelessnessgeneral sense of pessimism and low self-esteem in handling life's difficulties sfdself-doubtreports feeling useless, little self-confidence and highly critical view of self nfcinefficacyreports seeing self as incapable and useless ocsobsessions/compulsionsruminates over unpleasant thoughts; engages in compulsive behaviors (e.g., repetitive counting) stwstress/worryexperiences symptoms related to stress (e.g., trouble sleeping, problems concentrating, nervousness) strstressproblems involving stress and nervousness wryworryexcessive worry and preoccupation cmpcompulsivityengaging in compulsive behaviors axyanxietyreports experiences of dread, apprehension, and nightmares arxanxiety-related experiencesmultiple anxiety-related experiences such as catastrophizing, panic, dread, and intrusive ideation anpanger pronenessreports tendency to feel and express anger, aggression, and irritable behaviors brfbehavior-restricting fearsdescribes fears and anxiety that get in the way of daily functioning; general fearfulness and anxiety spfspecific fearsreports fears and phobias (e.g., fear of blood, spiders, heights, etc.) msfmultiple specific fearsfears of blood, fire, thunder, etc. externalizing nsanegative school attitudesexpresses dislike for school and difficulty being motivated in academic activities asaantisocial attitudesreports breaking rules, school problems and suspension, and engaging in oppositional behaviors cnpconduct problemsreports engaging in problematic behaviors at home and at school (e.g., problems with the law, running away from home, school suspensions) jcpjuvenile conduct problemsdifficulties at school and at home, stealing subsubstance abuseendorses behaviors related to problematic drug and alcohol use and abuse npinegative peer influencedescribes associating with peers who engage in problem behaviors (e.g., substance use, rule-breaking) impimpulsivitypoor impulse control and nonplanful behavior actactivationheightened excitation and energy level aggaggressionreports expressing anger physically and violently; threatening others verbally cyncynicismnon-self-referential beliefs that others are bad and not to be trusted interpersonal fmlfamily problemsreports problematic family interactions and feeling unsupported; expresses a desire to leave home because of difficulties with family ippinterpersonal passivityexpresses feeling unable to stand up for oneself; feels easy pushed around by others sfiself-importancebeliefs related to having special talents and abilities domdominancebeing domineering in relationships with others savsocial avoidanceexpresses discomfort being with others; withdrawn from interactions; reports having few friends shyshynessreports being easily embarrassed; feels nervous interacting with others dsfdisaffiliativenessexpresses a preference for being alone and avoidance of interacting with others; withdrawn and reports having few friends interest scales the mmpi-2-rf includes two interest scales. the aesthetic-literary interests (aes) scale rates interest in literature, music and theater, and the mechanical-physical interests (mec) scale measures interest in fixing and building things, the outdoors and sports. criticism like many standardized tests, scores on the various scales of the mmpi-2 and the mmpi-2-rf are not representative of either percentile rank or how "well" or "poorly" someone has done on the test. rather, analysis looks at relative elevation of factors compared to the various norm groups studied. raw scores on the scales are transformed into a standardized metric known as t-scores (mean equals 50, standard deviation equals 10), making interpretation easier for clinicians. test manufacturers and publishers ask test purchasers to prove they are qualified to purchase the mmpi/mmpi-2/mmpi-2-rf and other tests. addition of the lees-haley fbs (symptom validity) main article: lees-haley fake bad scale psychologist paul lees-haley developed the fbs (fake bad scale). although the fbs acronym remains in use, the official name for the scale changed to symptom validity scale when it was incorporated into the standard scoring reports produced by pearson, the licensed publisher. some psychologists question the validity and utility of the fbs scale. the peer-reviewed journal psychological injury and law published a series of pro and con articles in 2008, 2009, and 2010. investigations of the factor structure of the symptom validity scale (fbs and fbs-r) raise doubts about the scale's construct and predictive validity in the detection of malingering. racial disparity one of the biggest criticisms of the original mmpi has been the difference between whites and non-whites. in the 1970s, charles mccreary and eligio padilla from ucla compared scores of black, white and mexican-american men and found that non-whites tended to score five points higher on the test. they stated: "there is continuing controversy about the appropriateness of the mmpi when decisions involve persons from non-white racial and ethnic backgrounds. in general, studies of such divergent populations as prison inmates, medical patients, psychiatric patients, and high school and college students have found that blacks usually score higher than whites on the l, f, sc, and ma scales. there is near agreement that the notion of more psychopathology in racial ethnic minority groups is simplistic and untenable. nevertheless, three divergent explanations of racial differences on the mmpi have been suggested. black-white mmpi differences reflect variations in values, conceptions, and expectations that result from growing up in different cultures. another point of view maintains that differences on the mmpi between blacks and whites are not a reflection of racial differences, but rather a reflection of overriding socioeconomic variations between racial groups. thirdly, mmpi scales may reflect socioeconomic factors, while other scales are primarily race-related." translations of the mmpi mmpi-2 the mmpi-2 is currently available in 22 different languages, including: bulgarian chinese croatian czech danish dutch/flemish french canada (canadian french & english) german greek hebrew hmong hungarian italian korean norwegian polish romanian slovak spanish for mexico & central america spanish for spain, south america & central america spanish for the us swedish ukrainian mmpi-2 in chinese the chinese mmpi-2 was developed by fanny m. cheung, weizhen song, and jianxin zhang for hong kong and adapted for use in the mainland. the chinese mmpi was used as a base instrument from which some items, that were the same in the mmpi-2, were retained. new items on the chinese mmpi-2 underwent translation from english to chinese and then back translation from chinese to english to establish uniformity of the items and their content. the psychometrics are robust with the chinese mmpi-2 having high reliability (a measure of whether the results of the scale are consistent). reliability coefficients were found to be over 0.8 for the test in hong kong and were between 0.58 and 0.91 across scales for the mainland. in addition, the correlation of the chinese mmpi-2 and the english mmpi-2 was found to average 0.64 for the clinical scales and 0.68 for the content scales indicating that the chinese mmpi-2 is an effective tool of personality assessment. mmpi-2 in korean the korean mmpi-2 was initially translated by kyunghee han through a process of multiple rounds of translation (english to korean) and back-translation (korean to english), and it was tested in a sample of 726 korean college students. in general, the test-retest reliabilities in the korean sample were comparable to those in the american sample. for both culture samples, the median test-retest reliabilities were found to be higher for females than for males: 0.75 for korean males and 0.78 for american males, whereas it was 0.85 for korean females and 0.81 for american females. after retranslating and revising the items with minor translation accuracy problems, the final version of the korean mmpi-2 was published in 2005. the published korean mmpi-2 was standardized using a korean adult normative sample, whose demographics were similar to the 2000 korean census data. compared to the u. s. norm, scale means of korean norm were significantly elevated; however, the reliabilities and validity of the korean mmpi-2 were still found to be comparable with the english mmpi-2. the korean mmpi-2 was further validated by using a korean psychiatric sample from inpatient and outpatient facilities of samsung national hospital in seoul. the internal consistency of the mmpi-2 scales for the psychiatric sample was comparable to the results obtained from the normative samples. robust validity of the korean mmpi-2 scales was evidenced by correlations with the scl-90-r scales, behavioral correlates, and therapist ratings. the korean mmpi-2 rf was published in 2011 and it was standardized using the korean mmpi-2 normative sample with minor modifications. mmpi-2 in hmong the mmpi-2 was translated into the hmong language by deinard, butcher, thao, vang and hang. the items for the hmong-language mmpi-2 were obtained by translation and back-translation from the english version. after linguistic evaluation to ensure that the hmong-language mmpi-2 was equivalent to the english mmpi-2, studies to assess whether the scales meant and measured the same concepts across the different languages. it was found that the findings from both the hmong-language and english mmpi-2 were equivalent, indicating that the results obtained for a person tested with either version were very similar. mmpi-3 the mmpi-3 is currently available in english, french (for canada) and spanish forms.