MMPI Scores in Young Men with Alcoholic Relatives and Controls

The MacAndrew (A Mac), Rosenberg (A Ros), and Revised (A Rev) "alcoholic scales" of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were administered to 30 nonalcoholic men aged 20 to 25 who have a first-degree alcoholic family member (the family history positive, or FHP, group). Those scores were then compared to a control population matched on demography and drinking history but lacking a family history of alcoholism (the family history negative, or FHN, group). Although the two groups did not differ on the total score made up of all 81 items common to the three scales and scores were almost identical on the A Ros and A Rev scales, the FHP subjects scored an average of 18.86 (SD = 4.08) whereas FHN controls scored 16.82 (SD = 3.24) on the A Mac scale (p less than .05). The two groups differed on only one of the six A Mac subfactors, Interpersonal Competence, with the former scoring 4.29 (SD = 1.51) and the later 3.25 (SD = 1.35) (p less than .05). Although the results on the A Mac are consistent with the possibility of some personality differences between individuals at high risk for the future development of alcoholism and controls, the fact that both groups scored in the "normal range" and the very small numerical differential between FHP and FHN individuals indicate the test is of limited clinical significance. However, the scores may indicate the presence of some aspects of personality which might correlate with greater likelihood for the future development of alcoholism.