The Differentiation of Male Alcoholic Outpatients from Nonalcoholic Psychiatric Outpatients by Means of the MMPI

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Abstract
Previous (Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory) MMPI-derived "alcoholism scales" provided indices not of "alcoholism," as their atuhors have maintained, but of general maladjustment. As far as the MMPI is concerned, it thus remains problematic whether alcoholics are simply neurotics-who- also- happen- to- drink- too- much or whether substantively significant differences do, in fact, exist between alcoholics and nonalcoholic psychiatric outpatients. The present study addressed the following question Is it possible to develop a scale from the 566 items that comprise the MMPI which will successfully differentiate between these two classes of patients? Three hundred male alcoholic outpatients and 300 nonalcoholic male psychiatric outpatients from the same urban treatment clinic comprised the subjects. Each patient group was divided into a standardization group (N=200) and a cross-validation group (N= 100). Item analyses of MMPI responses between the two standardization groups yielded 51 items which were significant at the .01 level. Following the removal of 2 items which dealt directly with alcohol usage, the final scale contained 49 items. When applied to the cross-validation samples, this 49-item scale yielded a point-biserial correlation of .64 and a t value of 11.81 (p<.000000001). Finally, using a cut-off point determined from the standardization samples, it correctly classified 81.5% of the combined cross-validation sample. It was concluded that significant differences in MMPI responses do exist between these two classes of psychiatric patients.

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