The Use Of The MMPI 2 In Custody Evaluations

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Why does a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI 2) in custody evaluations often frighten lawyers? A little knowledge may alleviate those fears.

First, this test was not developed for use in custody litigation. This is a personality assessment instrument with 566 questions originally developed during World War II to prevent those with psychological illnesses from enlisting in the military. It is an "objective" test, comparing the test taker to a "normative" group, ostensibly a group of people who have answered the same questions. While the normative group has expanded over time (the original group was a group of farmers in Minnesota in the 1930's), very few of this group are divorce litigants and even fewer are custody litigants. The expansion of the normative group led to the MMPI 2, but they are not necessarily comparable to a parent going through a custody evaluation.