A Cross-Cultural MMPI Comparison of Alcoholics

Abstract

MMPI Profiles of 11 Caucasian, 11 Hispanic American, and 11 American Indian alcoholics were compared. The subjects were chosen randomly from among veterans in treatment for alcoholism at a small VA Medical Center. Subjects represented similar secondary diagnoses and did not differ significantly in age or education. One-way nonrepeated-measures analyses of variance on validity, clinical and the MacAndrews Alcoholism Scales showed significance only for Scale 2 scores, elevated for the Hispanic American group but within the normal range. Examination of dominant highpoint code types in each group indicated primarily 4 or 49 for the Caucasians and 24 for the Hispanic Americans. American Indian subjects were more heterogeneous with 1, 6, or 9 highpoints. Generally, the resultant profiles conform to previously published alcoholic MMPI prototypes, supporting use of the MMPI for the population studied. The results do not support development of separate MMPI norms for psychiatric subjects from these minority groups, but cross-validation on a larger sample is required.