Defensiveness in Alcoholics: Measures Based on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

It is often hyp'ed that active alcoholics (AcA's) are defensive & given to denial. As part of a larger study of the relationship between alcoholism & suicidal behavior (SB), this paper reports on the assessment of certain Minnesota Multiphasic Personality scales to tap denial or de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Health and Human Behavior 1961-10, Vol.2 (3), p.185-189
Main Authors: Palola, Ernest G., Jackson, Joan K., Kelleher, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol drinking
Alcoholic/Alcoholics/Alcoholism
Alcoholism
Behavior/Behavioral
Defensive/Defensiveness
Defensiveness
Inventory/Inventories/ Inventorying
Medical schools
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
Police departments
Psychiatric hospitals
Repression
Scale/Scales (see also Test, Index, Score)
Standard score
Suicidal ideation
Suicide/Suicides/Suicidal
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Summary:It is often hyp'ed that active alcoholics (AcA's) are defensive & given to denial. As part of a larger study of the relationship between alcoholism & suicidal behavior (SB), this paper reports on the assessment of certain Minnesota Multiphasic Personality scales to tap denial or defensiveness among AcA's & inactive alcoholics (InA's) concerning their involvement in SB. The scales used were the K, or selfdefensiveness, & the Hys, or hysteria-subtle. 3 groups of M alcoholics (A's) were studied: 50 InA's from A's Anonymous, 49 AcA's from the Seattle Police Rehabilitation Farm & 24 AcA's from Kings Country Hosp. An interview schedule with force-choice & open-end items, & a drinking-history 7 were used. InA's reported more SB than AcA's. In contrast InA's had higher K &lys scale scores than AcA's. It was concluded that the resocializing experiences of A's Anonymous `forced' InA's to deny & repress unhappiness. In contrast, AA's felt free to admit unhappiness, but unable to admit the more serious problems of alcoholism & SB. The diff. between AcA's & InA's was the focus of denial. The AcA's were probably under-reporting & the InA's overreporting their involvement in SB. AA.
ISSN:0095-9006
0022-1465
DOI:10.2307/2948983