PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS CORRESPONDING TO LOW VERSUS HIGH PLATELET MONO-AMINE OXIDASE ACTIVITY

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  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 14  (2) , 375-383
Abstract
From an original sample of 375 college students and employees studied for platelet MAO activity, 66 subjects representing the lower and upper deciles of the sample were studied, including administration of the booklet form of the MMPI [Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory]. Psychological characteristics associated with differences in MAO activity were analyzed and these characteristics were cross-validated by using them to predict the separability of low vs. high MAO subjects. Each subject was randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups in which the low and high MAO subjects were balanced for sex. For 16 women in group A, a MAO scale discriminated low and high subjects with 100% accuracy. For 18 men in group A, a separate MAO scale discriminated with 94% accuracy. To cross-validate these results, the 2 scales were applied to another population; both discriminated low and high MAO women and men with a combined 97% accuracy. The thematic content of the 2 scales is discussed in the light of other reports on the psychological characteristics of low and high MAO subjects, including the apparent relationship between the scale content and the clinical features of bipolar affective disorder.