Amenability to counseling of opiate addicts on probation or parole

Fifty-two opiate addicts were classified as abstainers or continued abusers by their probation or parole officer. Eighteen variables--nine demographic and nine psychological--were evaluated for all subjects. Following factor analysis, 13 remaining variables were entered into a stepwise discriminant function analysis which significantly differentiated the abstaining and abusing groups. Abstainers were characterized by less dogmatism, higher education and personality integration, fewer aggressive incidents and previous drug arrests, and older age. The discriminant function classified 78.8% of the observations correctly and accounted for 27% of the variance. Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale, the Personality Integration Subscale of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and the effective demographic discriminators have been included in a screening battery for counseling amenability by which incoming opiate addicts scoring like abstainers are granted priority in treatment assignment.