Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to clarify characteristics of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profile in freshmen of university. A total of 1600 freshmen who entered Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Toyama, Japan, from 1998 to 2003 participated in this study. The mean age of these subjects at the time of testing was 19.2 (SD 2.4) years. All students gave informed consent before entering the study. The new Japanese version of MMPI was administered to students as routine mental health checkup during the orientation following entrance into the university. As a result, 1.9% of students on the hypomanic scale which was the lowest had high score (T>70) and 8.4% of student on the depression scale which was the highest had high score. Three % of students revealed the MMPI code type related to patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. The MMPI is a useful tool for identifying university students, who have problems related to mental health. In addition, the interviews for feedback appear to be useful for early diagnosis and early intervention.
