Differences across service era in a Veterans Affairs assessment clinic: Observations from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF).

Abstract

Broadband personality measures, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) family of instruments, are commonly used as diagnostic aids within the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. However, research on how military experiences (i.e., era of service and combat exposure) affect scores on these measures has yielded mixed findings regarding both the magnitude and pattern of symptom profiles. Additionally, concerns remain about the generalizability of these findings, as many studies have drawn samples from similar treatment settings, such as VA PTSD Clinical Teams. Conclusions reached by this line of research vary in how clinicians should integrate past experiences into expected response patterns. This study continues this line of work by providing the first comparison of service era differences in a nonposttraumatic stress disorder-focused VA sample undergoing a variety of assessment-related referrals. We examine differences on the MMPI-2-Restructured Form while controlling for known demographic influences (i.e., sex and service connection). Participants (n_{total sample} = 356) were compared for elevation rates on the content-based validity scales, and then, after excluding invalid protocols, we computed differences across the substantive scales using an analysis of covariance design. Despite the validity scale multivariate differences evident only on infrequent psychopathology responses and only on substantive scales substance abuse and disconstraint-revised, broader between-era contrasts suggest a similarity in Vietnam and Gulf veterans in their symptom experience, which may have implications for treatment planning and organizational expectations in the coming years. Results support the notion that demographic factors are critical to understanding service era influence and contextualizing their magnitude effectively. Clinical practice and research implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).