Two MMPI scales for alcoholism: What do they measure?

✍ Scribed by Maurice Korman

• Book ID: 101336903
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1960
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 247 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(196007)16:3<296::aid-jclp2270160319>3.0.co;2-j

✦ Synopsis

During an investigation on the definition of the alcoholism syndrome, it was noted that two empirical MMPI-based alcoholism scales were not substantially related (T = .26; p = .05). The AL scale, developed by Holmes(2) and a second scale devised by Hoyt and Sedlacekc4) (AHs) contain 59 and 68 items respectively, with an overlap of 28 items. Both scales were constructed through item analyses of the MMPI records of alcoholics and a portion of the original Minnesota standardization group, and both scales are reported to differentiate significantly alcoholics from normals.

Since the scales were constructed against the criterion of a diagnosis of alcoholism, they may be said to have parallel concurrent validity; their low correlation, however, implies that they may reflect different subsets of the universe of attributes which differentiate alcoholics from normal, i.e., have different construct validity ( 3 ) . This study attempts to investigate what the two scales "measure" by examining their relationship to a number of variables reflecting the physical, psychological and social adjustment of the alcoholic.

METHOD

The subjects were 61 patients who had been referred to an out-patient alcoholism clinic and who had undergone medical, psychiatric and psychological evaluation. Measures of the following dimensions or variables were considered in relation t o AL and AHS:

1. Scale of preoccupation with alwhol. This ten item scale wm assembled by Jackson(') through modified Gutman scaling. It represents a sample of alcohol related behavior (e.g.,