AbstractAttempted to predict therapeutic persistence, as measured by the total number of sessions attended, with the MMPI. High persisters were defined as patients who attended six or more sessions, while low persisters were patients who attended fewer than six sessions.Ss were 360 (180 high persisting, 180 low persisting) female outpatients and 204 (102 high persisting, 102 low persisting) male outpatients. All groups were divided into equal halves in order to allow for cross‐validation of three separate discriminant functions: One for males, one for females, and one for the entire sample (male + female). Cross‐validation revealed that only the discriminant function for males achieved a classification accuracy (60%) greater than chance expectations. A series of biserial correlations indicated that male persisters tended to be less defensive while experiencing greater distress and that female persisters tended to be more introverted and less impulsive relative to their respective low‐persisting counter