Identifying Future Alcoholics with MMPI Alcoholism Scales

Hoffmann, Helmut; Loper, Rodney G.; Kammeier, Mary L.

doi:10.15288/qjsa.1974.35.490

Cited by 110 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…To clarify the changes observed on the MacAndrews Alcoholism Scale, we computed the proportion of each sample that achieved values that exceeded critical levels. To be conservative, we selected a score of 27, designated as "highly supportive," rather than the one of 24 ordinarily used to index a problem that is present (Hoffman, Loper, & Kammeier, 1974). At intake, none of the officers who retained their positions had scores exceeding this level, whereas 1 of the terminators' scores was beyond this level.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing personality patterns of police officers.

Beutler¹,

Nussbaum²,

Meredith³

1988

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

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Twenty-five police officers were evaluated at or shortly after their recruitment and again 2 years later. Eleven of the officers were available for follow-up 4 years after recruitment. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scores showed significant changes over time, suggesting increasing somatic symptoms, anxiety, and alcohol vulnerability. The increased vulnerability to alcohol abuse was the strongest finding, and by the 4th year of service, mean MacAndrews Alcoholism Scale scores were within the critical range. Results are discussed in terms of the peculiar stresses of police work and the need for periodic revaluation to prevent stress-associated problems and also initiate early intervention programs.In recognition that police work represents both a highly stressful and a relatively unique set of activities, the 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement, as well as subsequent authors (e.g., Beutler, Storm, Kirkish, Scogin, & Gaines, 1985;Burkhart, 1980;Inwald, 1985;Scogin & Beutler, 1986), emphasized the importance of selecting police candidates who are well adjusted and have good coping skills. It is not sufficient to simply screen out those applicants who have diagnosable psychopathologies. Police officers work in a unique social system that requires the ability to adapt to unusual demands. Officers must be willing to expose themselves to danger on a daily basis and to confront life-threatening circumstances. They must be willing, on one hand, to comply with a superior's demands even when disagreeable and, on the other, to withstand the angry efforts of offenders to control them. The need to balance contradictory roles while maintaining a high degree of interpersonal sensitivity LARRY E. BEUTLER received his PhD from the University of Nebraska in 1970. He is currently professor of psychiatry and psychology, chief psychologist, and Director of Clinical Research at the University of Arizona, Department of Psychiatry. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and is the author of several books in the area of psychotherapy and the prediction of change. PAUL D. NUSSBAUM, MA, is a clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of Arizona. His training is conducted at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and includes work in neuropsychology, sleep disorders, treatment of sexual dysfunction, forensic psychology, and group psychotherapy. Special interests include research in memory, dementia of the Alzheimer's type, and depression and the elderly.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing personality patterns of police officers.

Beutler¹,

Nussbaum²,

Meredith³

1988

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

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“…Among the patient groups there also appears to be a clustering of older patients in the substance abusers subgroup and younger patients in the group with conduct disturbance without substance abuse. Other studies have indicated that the MAC may have a predictive potential (Hoffmann, Loper, & Kammeier, 1974) and that scores remain relatively stable even after drug abuse treatment (Rohan, Tatro, & Rotman, 1969;Vega, 1971).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent responses to the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale.

Wolfson¹,

Erbaugh²

1984

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

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This study examines the ability of the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale (MAC) to indicate drug abuse among adolescents. Comparisons of MAC scores were made among four groups of adolescents: (a) 135 unselected high school students (76 female, 59 male); (b) inpatient psychiatry patients of a major teaching hospital (43 female, 47 male), who had no significant history of substance abuse; (c) outpatient psychiatry and psychology clinic patients at the same hospital (43 female, 38 male), who had no significant history of substance abuse; and (d) 100 randomly selected clients (50 female, 50 male) at a residential treatment center for drug-abusing adolescents. Mean MAC score differences among groups were demonstrated for male and female adolescents. Comparisons of differences between pairs of means indicated that MAC mean scores were similar for female high school students and psychiatry patients and significantly higher for substance-abusing female adolescents. For male subjects, mean MAC score differences were demonstrated between substance-abusing adolescents and high school students and between substance abusers and psychiatric outpatients, but mean MAC score differences between substanceabusing and psychiatric inpatient adolescent males were not significant. An attempt to determine optimal MAC cutting scores for all groups resulted in suggested cutting scores > 24 for female subjects and > 26 for male subjects.According to a survey by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (Fishburne, Abelson, & Cisin, 1979), the number of adolescents using drugs and alcohol has nearly doubled over the last decade. An objective means of identifying those adolescents who are substance abusers, when incorporated into the history and interview procedures currently in use, could result in more accurate evaluations and timely interventions.Scores on the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale (MAC) have successfully differentiated adult male alcoholics from nonalcoholic psychiatric patients (DeGroot & Adamson, 1973;MacAndrew, 1965;Rhodes, 1969;Whisler & Cantor, 1966), young male alcohol-related offenders from psychiatric patients and from college students (MacAndrew, 1979), and adult female alcoholics from nonalcoholic female psychiatric patients (Rich & Davis, 1969;Schwartz & Graham, 1979). There is also evidence that the MAC differentiates heroin addicts and polydrug users from nonaddicts with Requests for reprints should be sent to

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“…The distinction between prealcoholic personality traits and clinical personality traits proposed by Gordon Barnes (1979) was a critical one in the history of research on personality and AUDs. Barnes noted that many traits associated with clinical alcoholism (at that time typically assessed via the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory [MMPI]; Hathaway & McKinley, 1940) tended to change over the course of recovery and often differed from traits identified in prospective studies (e.g., Jones, 1968Jones, , 1971 and followback studies (e.g., Hoffman, Loper, & Kammeier, 1974). As noted by Sher et al (1999), there is now a strong database demonstrating significant prediction of future alcohol (and other drug) problems, especially traits related to behavioral disinhibition and, to a lesser extent, neuroticism.…”

Section: Developmental Models Of Personality-alcohol Relationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Multiple, Distinct Ways that Personality Contributes to Alcohol Use Disorders

Littlefield

Sher

2010

Social and Personality Psychology Compass

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There is little question of whether personality is associated with problematic alcohol involvement (such as alcohol use disorders; AUDs); it clearly is. However, the question remains: how or why is personality related to risky drinking and AUDs? To address this question, theoretical models have been posited regarding the causal effects of personality on alcohol use and related problems. In this article, several of these models are summarized and reviewed. Future research directions are discussed, including possible frameworks that serve to integrate various models of the personality-AUD relation. Keywordspersonality; alcohol use disorders; drinking motives Does personality relate to pathological alcohol use? This question has long been a focus of substance use researchers and clinicians. Though the identification of an "addictive personality" (i.e., a specific configuration of personality characteristics linked to addictive behaviors) has largely been abandoned, numerous studies demonstrate links between specific personality traits and problematic alcohol involvement. More specifically, though traits related to impulsivity/disinhibition appear to demonstrate the most robust and consistent relation with alcohol involvement, all Five-Factor traits (i.e., openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) have been shown to correspond, with varying degrees of consistency, to alcohol use and outcomes (see Sher, Barthalow, & Vieth [1999] for a review of papers linking personality to alcohol use disorders [AUDs] and Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Rooke, & Schutte [2007] for a recent metaanalysis that suggests, among Five-Factor traits, only conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism are significantly linked to alcohol involvement, and Trull & Sher [1994] for an alternative analytic approach involving personality and AUDs). Thus, the question of whether personality is associated with problematic alcohol involvement (such as alcohol use disorders; AUDs) can be clearly answered: yes! What remains to be addressed is how or why personality relates to risky drinking and AUDs. Understanding the mechanisms of how broad personality traits such as neuroticism influence mental and physical health has recently been identified as "top priority for research" (Lahey, 2009), and the relation between personality and AUDs is no exception. Though personality and AUDs could be, logically, linked in a variety of ways (e.g., personality could influence

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Identifying Future Alcoholics with MMPI Alcoholism Scales

Cited by 110 publications

References 0 publications

Changing personality patterns of police officers.

Changing personality patterns of police officers.

Adolescent responses to the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale.

The Multiple, Distinct Ways that Personality Contributes to Alcohol Use Disorders

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