This article was downloaded by: [Universitara M Emineescu Iasi] On: 15 November 2011, At: 13:29 Publisher: Psychology

Press Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology

Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ncen20

A Review of: Crossing the cultural divide: Assessing Spanish-speaking Hispanics with MMPI instruments
Anthony T. Dugbartey
a a

University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

Available online: 28 Feb 2008

To cite this article: Anthony T. Dugbartey (2008): A Review of: Crossing the cultural divide: Assessing Spanishspeaking Hispanics with MMPI instruments, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 30:3, 387-388 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13803390701587534

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY 2008, 30 (3), 387388

NCEN

Book Review
Crossing the cultural divide: Assessing Spanish-speaking Hispanics with MMPI instruments

Book Review

Downloaded by [Universitara M Emineescu Iasi] at 13:29 15 November 2011

Assessing Hispanic clients using the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A. James N. Butcher, Jose Cabiya, Emilia Lucio, and Maria Garrido. 2007. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Pp. 317. ISBN-13: 978159147 9246 (hbk). $69.95.
The primary purpose of this book is to provide readers with an up-to-date and inclusive overview of how to apply the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) with Spanish-speaking populations. While specifically identifying mental health practitioners in the United States as their primary target audience, I believe graduate students in the clinical behavioural sciences would also find this book useful as an ancillary course text, as would university faculty and educators who provide graduate level training in both psychopathology and personality assessment. Seasoned researchers on cross-cultural psychological issues, however, are not likely to find this tome of much benefit unless they want a volume that provides a concise summary of the various research activities on the MMPI instruments among various Spanish-speaking Latino populations. This book is arranged in nine easy-to-read chapters. The first chapter, which discusses the role of culture in personality and the expression of psychopathology, provides an appropriate opening to the text. Also addressed here are the myriad of biases and challenges involved in achieving equivalence and appropriate validity when constructing or utilizing personality instruments with ethnic minority clientele. Some very helpful hints are provided about ways of minimizing bias when conducting culturally competent psychological assessments. An excellent aspect of this chapter is the authors use of recent United States Census Bureau data to illustrate the within-group diversity of Hispanics living in the United States, and how this diversity can exert a profound influence on the choices clinicians make when determining which
http://www.psypress.com/jcen

instruments to use in assessing the Hispanic client. On the downside, however, this chapter does not address any of the unique yet important cultural challenges confronting ethnic minority adolescents. While the majority of research on immigrants and ethnic minorities focus on adults, there is a growing body of knowledge on youths in cultural transition (see for example, Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006; Fuligni, 2001; Lau et al., 2005; Rumbaut & Portes, 2001) that is not addressed in the chapter. The emerging debate on youth maladjustment due to acculturation gaps between adolescents and their immigrant families, for example, is one such fertile area for discussion. Chapter 2 walks the reader through some of the Spanish-language adaptations of the MMPI and its revised version (i.e., MMPI-2). A very nice historical account is provided about the use and alterations of MMPI/MMPI-2 in half a dozen Spanish-speaking countries, some going back to over half a century ago. While the chapter heading also lists the adolescent version of the MMPI (MMPI-A), not much is mentioned about it here, nor is anything said about why there may be a dearth of relevant information on this adolescent version of the instrument. Immediately after discussing Spanish-language adaptations of the MMPI instruments, chapter 3 makes the logical transition to casting the spotlight on MMPI-2 assessment with Hispanic clients living in the United States. A history of past research on the MMPI with Hispanics in the United States is admirably discussed here, and very detailed explication of the conceptual foundations of the various Spanish translations is offered. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this chapter is how skillfully the authors enlighten the audience about which examinee background variables ought to be considered when deciding on the appropriate language versions of the MMPI-2 to use in applied settings. The closing section of this chapter, where the authors engaged in a rebuttal of what they labeled the extreme culturist views, is less compelling,
DOI: 10.1080/13803390701587534

2007 The Author

388

BOOK REVIEW

however. Not all culturist viewpoints are extreme. Moreover, the fact that developing tests with highly culturally specific content requires substantial resource commitment does not mean that this enterprise must be afforded lower priority. Suffice it to say, the emicetic debate (which very simply refers to the relative merits in cultural research of focusing primarily on the internal exploration of psychological phenomena in local cultural terms [i.e., emic] as opposed to transferring instruments that were originally developed in one cultural context to another [etic]), appears to be alive and well. More detailed explication of the emicetic perspectives in psychology is available elsewhere (BenetMartinez, 1999; Jahoda, 1995). Chapter 4 addresses considerations for assessing MMPI-2 protocol validity, while chapter 5 discusses the main clinical and content measures. Anyone who has more than a passing familiarity with the MMPI/MMPI-2 would quickly discern that the interpretation strategies described in both chapters are essentially similar to those used for mainstream majority clients. Chapter 6 provides very enlightening MMPI-2 clinical interpretations using the case studies of four Hispanic clients with a variety of circumstances and referral reasons. Chapters 7 and 8, the two longest chapters in the book, discuss the assessment of Hispanic adolescents with MMPI-A. Chapter 7 offers a glimpse into history by outlining the decades-long application of the original MMPI with Hispanic adolescents before the MMPI-A was developed. A very cogent description of the Spanish and Mexican versions of the MMPI-A is also offered. Moreover, I found the case study descriptions and clinical interpretation of the MMPI-A with six Hispanic adolescents in chapter 8 to be very interesting and well presented. Chapter 9, which endeavors to provide an overall summary of the text and also identifies areas for future research using the MMPI with Hispanic immigrants, is a natural way to conclude the book. In addition to listing some areas for research consideration, the authors spare no effort in warning about the difficulties entailed in conducting research with transitory immigrant populations. Conspicuously missing in this section, though, is a description of some research directions specifically for adolescent Hispanic populations. Some key and very practical information is presented in the four appendices of this text, including contact addresses for the translators, scale developers, and distributors of the various versions of the Spanish MMPI instruments; a list of references to

Downloaded by [Universitara M Emineescu Iasi] at 13:29 15 November 2011

various works on the Spanish-language versions of the MMPI instruments; and T-Score tables for the Mexican versions of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A. Before concluding, it is worth noting that an inescapable aspect of cross-cultural research and practice is its complexity. And given this complexity, no single text can please everyone entirely. For example, mental health practitioners who work exclusively with Hispanic adolescents may find only few aspects of this text to be of direct relevance to them in their work. For these practitioners, the edited text by Butcher et al. (2000) is well worth reading as well. Non-Spanish speaking clinicians who rely exclusively on translators/interpreters to read and interpret English MMPI instruments to Hispanic clients may not find any discussion here about their practice. Overall, however, this text admirably meets its goals. The writing is consistently clear and lucid, and the ideas are very succinctly presented. And, by the way, the summary and chapter highlights that appear at the end of each chapter would surely be a hit for readers. Anthony T. Dugbartey University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

REFERENCES
Benet-Martinez, V. (1999). Exploring indigenous Spanish personality constructs with a combined emicetic approach. In J. C. Lasry, J. G. Adair, & K. L. Dion (Eds.), Latest contributions to cross-cultural psychology (pp. 151175). Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets and Zeitlinger. Berry, J. W., Phinney, J. S., Sam, D. L., & Vedder, P. (2006). Immigrant youth: Acculturation, identity, and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55, 303332. Butcher, J. N., Ellertsen, B., Ubostad, B., Bubb. E., Lucio, E., Lim, J., et al. (Eds.). (2000). International case studies on the MMPI-A: An objective approach. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Fuligni, A. (2001). A comparative longitudinal approach to acculturation among children from immigrant families. Harvard Educational Review, 71, 566578. Jahoda, G. (1995). In pursuit of the emicetic distinction: Can we ever capture it? In N. R. Goldberger & J. B. Veroff (Eds.), The culture and psychology reader (pp. 128138). New York: New York University Press. Lau, A. S., McCabe, K. M., Yeh, M., Garland, A. F., Wood, P. A., & Hough, R. L. (2005). The acculturation gap-distress hypothesis among high-risk Mexican American Families. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 367375. Rumbaut, R., & Portes, A. (Eds.). (2001). Ethnicities: Children of immigrants in America. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.