Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI-2) as a screening tool for selecting candidates with the potential for adjusting to Chinese army life and for detecting recruits with psychological problems. The unique military environment and the intense training often lead to young recruit’s maladjustment, and results in serious consequences such as reducing a troop’s training quality as well as its combat effectiveness. One of the critical practices for ensuring the successful adjustment of military recruits is screening recruits with psychological assessment tools such as MMPI-2. These tests identify recruits with psychological problems or mental illness and then prevent them from entering the military in the first place. MMPI-2 is the most widely used and researched multi-scale psychopathology measurement tool in the world. In the early 1990s, MMPI-2 was also introduced and adopted as a personnel selection tool for duty in special operations within the Chinese military. However, there has been no empirical evidence about the validity of MMPI-2 in predicting the adjustment of Chinese military recruits. Because of this, it is unclear if MMPI-2 should even be used as a selection tool to ensure the quality of the military personnel, if its use cannot predict long-term success.