| The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between MMPI scores of abusers of four categories of drugs (central nervous system depressants, central nervous system stimulants, narcotics, and psychedelics) and MMPI scores of those individuals on whom the MMPI norms were established.;The first hypothesis was formulated to address the question of the relationship between personality characteristics of drug abusers and those of the normative population on six scales of the MMPI. Results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test indicated statistically significant differences between scores of each of four categories of drug abusers and scores of the original normative population on the following four scales: Scale 2, Depression; Scale 4, Psychopathic Deviance; Scale 7, Psychasthenia; and Scale 9, Hypomania. Although scores of psychedelic abusers did not deviate significantly from normative population scores on Scale 1, Hypochondriasis, and Scale 3, Hysteria, scores of the other three drug abuser categories (depressants, stimulants, and narcotics) did deviate significantly from the normative population on these two scales.;The second hypothesis was formulated to compare abusers of four categories of drugs by examining the abusers' personality characteristics as defined by scores on thirteen scales of the MMPI. ANOVA computations revealed that statistically significant differences exist on all scales except for three: Scale 5, Masculinity-Femininity; Scale 11, Lie; and Scale 13, Defensiveness. Abusers of psychedelic drugs were most frequently the category which deviated from the other three drug categories being considered.;Results of the study have limited value in terms of direct application by drug counselors or educators. However, there were some interesting findings which provided direction for future research.;The subjects of the study were 251 drug abuse clients treated by the Charleston County (S.C.) Substance Abuse Commission. These clients were described broadly as young adults, white, male, single, of the lower middle class, drug users since their late teen years, initiated into drug use with marijuana, preferers of narcotics, and addicted. |
