Comparison of external correlates of MMPI substance abuse scales across sex and race.

Abstract

The present study examined the differential predictive accuracy of seven Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory alcoholism scales and two drug abuse scales across both sex and race in a sample of 171 alcoholic inpatients. Results demonstrated considerable variance among these scales in their ability to predict alcohol and other drug use, expectancies, and consequences. The predictive accuracy within scales also varied across four sex-race subgroups. Although five of the nine scales predicted a variety of relevant external criteria for black male alcoholics, only three of these were predictive for black women. Only one scale retained its predictive utility for white male alcoholics; none related to external criteria above chance rate for white alcoholic women. Implications of these findings for clinical assessment and future research are discussed. Use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Person-ality Inventory (MMPI) in the assessment and treatment of alcoholism and other sub-stance abuse has a long tradition of more than 30 years of research. Although the de-velopment of separate MMPI scales for de-tecting substance abuse comprises a promi-nent strategy in this area, recent investigations have generally been critical of MMPI alco-holism scales, particularly those developed prior to 1960. Whereas early scales were derived to discriminate alcohol abusers from normal controls (Alcoholism Scale [AL],

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