Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 40• No. 5, 1979

Women A.A. Members and Nonalcoholics; Scores on the Holmes and MacAndrew Scales of the MMPF DenisJ. Navarro,M.A.2 SVMMAaY.Three groups of women-membersof AlcoholicsAnonymous,psychiatric inpatients and normal subiects-showedno significant differences in scoreson the Holmes and MacAndrew Scalesof the MMPI.

Since Holmes (1) and Button (2) introduceda 59-item Minnesota MultiphasicPersonalityInventory (MM•'•) scaleto differentiatebetween alcoholicsand normal subjects,a number of other similar measures have been developed.Hampton (3) and Hoyt and Sedlacek(4) also formulated

scales to differentiate

between alcoholics and normal sub-

jects. MacAndrew and Geertsma(5) showedthat these three scales couldnot distinguishbetweenalcoholicsand other psychiatricpatients, and MacAndrew(6) thereforedevelopeda 49-itemscale.Later research by Vega (7) and Rich and Davis (8) validatedseveralof thesescales, amongthem the MacAndrew and Holmes. Haertzen et al. (9) formulated a scale to discriminate between alcoholicsand narcotic addicts, since habitual misuse of either alcohol or narcotics affects the central

nervoussystem.Finney et al. (10) combinedthese earlier scalesto form a compositemeasure. A major shortcomingof past researchin this area has been the exclusionof womenalcoholicsfrom mostof the groupsof subjectsstudied (1, 2, 6, 7, 11). Whether the findingsof earlier studiescan be applied to all alcoholicsneedsto be investigated.The presentstudyapproached this problemby usingthe Holmesand MacAndrewscales,which have only 7 overlappingquestions,in an attempt to differentiate3 groupsof women subjects.The alcoholicsstudied were members of Alcoholics Anonymous,and thereforenot representativeof all alcoholicsbut only of a self-selectedgroup. METHOD

The subjects,all women,were 20 membersof A.A., 20 psychiatricpatients, none of whom was an alcoholic,and 20 nonalcoholics drawn h'om the general population.All subjectswere screenedby means of the Memory-forx From the Department of Clinical Psychology,College of Arts and Sciences,University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. 2Altoona Mental Health Center, Altoona Hospital, Altoona, Pennsylvania16601. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.--I thank KennethKuntz, ThomasRueth, Victor Dilgard, Judith Pistilli and Jody Hoffman for their support and advice.

Receivedfor publication:15 November1976. Revision:22 January1979. 496

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497

DesignsTest (12), self-reportsand histories,when available, for evidence of brain damage as the result of trauma or other causes.Administrationof the Memory-for-Designs Test resultedin the eliminationof 9 subiects,who were replaced with other women who were able to complete this screening test successfully. The A.A. members lived in Dayton, Ohio and reported no history of psychiatricdisorderother than alcoholism.The fact that they were members of A.A. served as the criterion of alcoholism.

The psychiatricpatients were inpatients at the Dayton Mental Health Center. A crosssectionof psychiatricpatients, but predominantlyschizophrenics,they reportedno historyof alcoholmisuse.The nonalcoholics from the generalpopulationwere residentsof the Dayton area who, accordingto their self-reports,did not have a history of psychiatricillnessor alcoholism. All membersof the three groups were Whites who consideredthemselves to be middle classon the basisof their family income. The mean (--- SD) age of the A.A. memberswas 35 ___ 5.4 (range, 26-46), that of the psychiatricpatientswas 35 +__ 4.7 (range, 23-49) and that of the generalpopulationgroupwas 34 +-6.1 (range, 24-47). The mean education of the A.A. memberswas 11 ___ 1.6 years (range, 8-14), that of the psychiatric patients11 --- 1.7 (range, 8-13) and that of the sampleof the general population12 ___ .7 (range, 10-14). The Holmes and MacAndrew

scales were administered in a counterbalanced

manner to controlfor such factorsas subjectfatigue. In an attempt to validate the two measures,t tests were used to compare scores of the three groups.Chi-squareanalysiswas used to obtain more information about the significanceof each questionon the two scales. RESULTS

Results of t tests showed no significant differencesin the groups' scoreson either the Holmes or MacAndrew scales.On the former, the

mean scoresof the alcoholics,the psychiatricinpatientsand the nonalcoholicsin the generalpopulationwere 10.32ñ 5.03, 10.79•_-4.39 and 9.05 •---5.33; on the MacAndrewscale,the respectivescoreswere 9.53 •--4.98, 10.45 _ 3.50 and 7.78 ñ 5.72.

Chi-squareanalysisshowedthat 7 itemson the Holmesscaleachieved significancein contrastingalcoholicsand psychiatricinpatients(MMPI items 61, 183, 215, 249, 274, 460 and 548); and 12 items differentiated

alcoholicsand nonalcoholics in the generalpopulation(items 9, 21, 41, 61, 137, 163,215, 232, 251, 287, 460 and 506). Only i item in the MacAndrew scalewas significantin differentiating between alcoholicsand psychiatricinpatients (item 173), while 10 statementsachievedsignificancein contrastingthe alcoholicsand normal subiects(items 58, 94, 149, 156, 173, 186, 251, 278, 356 and 488). Four items from both scales were significantbetweenall 3 groupstested (Holmes items61, 215 and 460, and MacAndrew item 173). DISCUSSION

The Holmes and MacAndrew

scales failed to differentiate

between

the alcoholicsand psychiatricinpatientsstudied.Althoughthere were controlsfor such factors as age, race, education and socioeconomie

498

JOURNALor STUDIES ON ALCOHOL

level, and a screeningtest for organicity,the alcoholicsstudiedwere membersof A.A., which is a specificsubgroupof alcoholics, and such factorsas length of abstinencewere not controlled. The researchof Rich and Davis (8) contradictsthe findings of the present study. They found that the Holmes and MacAndrew scales,

amongothers,are equallyvalid for men and women,but they indicate a need for separatenormsand cutoff pointsfor the sexes.A possible explanationfor differencesin the findingsof the two studiesmay be differences in the subjects.Rich and Davis testedhospitalizedalcoholics whereasthe presentstudy tested membersof A.A. Differencesin the severityof drinkingproblemsand the ability to functioneffectivelyon a daily basismay explaindifferencesin test results.Further investigation using more representativegroups of women subjectsmay help clarify the differencesin findings.The routine inclusionof women subjects in future studiesof these scalesis advised.

Resultsof the presentstudy obviouslyshouldnot be extendedto groupsnot tested.This studywas basedon the premisethat other researchershad already generalizedtoo much. The same error should not be repeated.

REFERENCES

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8. R•cI-I, C. C. and D,•v•s, H. G. Concurrentvalidity of •'• alcoholismscales. J. Clin. Psychol. 25: 425-426, 1969. 9. H,•.•a•Z•.N, C. A., Hx•,% H. E. and MorRo% J. J. M•'• scalesfor differentiating and predictingrelapsein alcoholics,opiate addictsand criminals.Int. J. Addict. 3: 91-106, 1968.

10. FXNN•.¾, J. C., SMITH, D. F., Sr,•.•.•as, D. E. and Avv•.NSX-n•% C. D. Mm•,•

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11. U•.cI(•.•a,A. E. Differentiatingmale alcoholicfrom other psychiatricinpatients; validity of the MacAndrewScale.Q. J. Stud. Alcohol31: 379-383, 1970. 12. G•I-i,•M, F. K. and K•.N•)X•,•,,B. S. Memory-for-Designs Test; revisedmanual. Missoula,Mont.; PsychologicalTest Specialists;1960.

Women A.A. members and nonalcoholics; scores on the Holmes and MacAndrew Scales of the MMPI.

Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 40• No. 5, 1979 Women A.A. Members and Nonalcoholics; Scores on the Holmes and MacAndrew Scales of the MMPF Denis...
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