Alcoholism-related content in the MMPI: item analysis of alcoholics vs. normal and general psychiatric populations

An analysis of alcoholism-related content in the MMPI was undertaken using an alcoholic population, a psychiatric population and two normal populations. The alcoholic and psychiatric groups were drawn from facilities in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and the normal populations were the Hathaway Adult Group and the Mayo Clinic nonpsychiatric patient group. A derivation study and a cross-validation resulted in the identification of three item pools: 1) that discriminate alcoholics from both normals and psychiatric patients, 2) items that discriminate alcoholics from normals only, 3) items that discriminate alcoholics from psychiatric patients only. Only seven items discriminate both male and female alcoholics from both normals and psychiatric patients. These items have substantial face validity. As the core of alcoholism-related content in the MMPI, they can serve as a stem for the development of scales with more specialized purposes.