USE OF THE HEROIN ADDICTION SCALE OF THE MMPI AT THE NAVAL DRUG REHABILITATION CENTER

The Problem. Fifty-seven items of the MMPI, collectively called the Heroin addiction scale (He Scale), had been shown to discriminate heroin addicts from nonaddicts and from alcoholics in adult populations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the He scale could discriminate narcotics, alcohol, and polydrug abusers in a young adult population, and to test whether eleven new items could be added to enhance the discriminative capacity of known personality items.;Results. Analysis of mean scores on the He scale yielded the following: (1) significant discrimination between narcotics and polydrug abusers but not between narcotics and alcohol abusers and (2) no significant discrimination between alcohol and polydrug abusers.;Many significant point-biserial correlations were found between responses to certain items and frequencies of use of certain drugs.;The discriminative capacity of original items was comparable to that of the He scale.;Method. Data were obtained from a sixty-eight item personality instrument composed of fifty-seven items of the MMPI plus eleven new items. The instrument was administered to incoming clients of a Naval Drug Rehabilitation Center. Based on self reports, subjects were classified into one of four drug abuse groups: (1) narcotics, (2) alcohol, (3) polydrug, and (4) light drug abusers.;From these results, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) scores on the He scale do not adequately discriminate drug abusers in the population sampled to be used for such purpose and (2) certain personality items may be useful in discriminating drug abusers and in detecting drug use in individuals.