Substance Use Scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Abstract

Three drug and alcohol use screening scales are embedded within the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2: the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale (MAC) and its revised version (MAC-R), the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS), and the Addiction Potential Scale (APS). The current study evaluated the reliability reporting practices among 210 studies administering the MAC/MAC-R, APS, and/or AAS. Furthermore, reliability generalization methods were used to characterize the previously reported reliability estimates associated with each instrument. The vast majority of studies (90.6%) did not provide measurement reliability data, suggesting a need for improved psychometric reporting. Data from the remaining studies yielded mean and median score reliability estimates below .70 for each of the identified measures. Although limited in some instances by sample size constraints, results suggest that these instruments tend not to produce scores with acceptable levels of reliability for most research or clinical situations.