Scores on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-168 item version were examined during periods of clinical remission and of psychosis for recent-onset schizophrenia patients (n = 19) and at comparable time intervals for demographically matched normal participants (n = 19). To determine diagnostic specificity, MMPIs for participants with bipolar affective disorder in remission (n = 12) were also examined. Methods for distinguishing between stable vulnerability indicators, mediating vulnerability factors and episode indicators of psychopathology were adapted from Nuechterlein and Dawson (1984). MMPI scales Pa, Sc and validity scale F showed a combination of trait and state qualities, characteristic of mediating vulnerability factors. These scales reflect changes that occur during psychotic episodes but also apparently tap personality characteristics that endure into periods of clinical remission. Unexpectedly, some MMPI scales that are not typically associated with psychotic disorders (i.e. Hs, D, and Hy) were significantly higher in schizophrenia patients across psychotic and clinically remitted states than in normal participants. In clinical remission, higher scores on scales Hs, D and Hy, showed some specificity to schizophrenia relative to bipolar disorder. While MMPI-168 scales Pd and Pt fit the pattern for vulnerability indicators, it was uncertain whether they belonged to the 'stable' versus 'mediating' subtype. MMPI scores that continue to be higher in remission than in a normal sample may reflect either enduring vulnerability factors or the impact of schizophrenia and the individuals' attempts to cope with the disorder. Studies of first-degree relatives will be needed to provide converging evidence that certain personality characteristics reflect genetic predisposition to schizophrenia.