The Revised Version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory in Korean College Students with Symptoms of Temporomandibular Disorders

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the association of personality characteristics with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Methods: Four hundred and fifty one college students in Gyeonggi-do completed the revised version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) and a questionnaire and collected data were analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 25.0 software (IBM Co., Armonk, NY, USA). Results: Mean values of the number of positive answers of TMD symptoms were significantly higher in higher scorers on hypochondriasis (Hs), depression (D), paranoia (Pa) (Hs>60, D>64, Pa>59) (p<0.01). Higher scorers on Hs, hysteria (Hy), schizophrenia (Sc), Pa, psychasthenia (Pt) (Hy>64, Sc>64, Pt>64) exhibited significantly higher mean values of the number of positive answers of contributing factors for TMD (p<0.01, p<0.001). Low scorers on social introversion ($Si{\leq}44$) exhibited significantly lower mean value of the number of positive answers of contributing factors for TMD than high or moderate scorers on Si (Si>64, 45-64) (p<0.01, p<0.05). The percentage of subjects who responded that they had at least one TMD symptom was significantly higher in higher scorers on Hs, Pt, D (p<0.05, p<0.01). The significantly higher percentage of higher scorers on D, Pa reported at least one contributing factor for TMD (p<0.05). The percentage of subjects who responded that they had at least one TMD symptom or one contributing factor for TMD was significantly different among three groups divided by T-score on Si (p<0.01, p<0.05). T-scores of Hs, D, Hy, Pt and Sc showed significant correlation with the numbers of TMD symptoms and contributing factors for TMD, respectively (p<0.001). A correlation was found between T-score of Pd and the number of TMD symptoms (p<0.001). T-score of Si correlated to the number of contributing factors for TMD (p<0.001). Conclusions: Most clinical scales of MMPI-2 were found to be related to TMD. Psychological assessment including MMPI-2 may play a role in predicting treatment outcome and planning treatment of TMD.