Three Portraits of the Young Drug User: Comparison of MMPI Group Profiles

Psychopathology and chronic drug use: a methodological paradigm

Four carefully matched groups, each containing nine male, chronic users of a specific type of substance, were compared with each other and with a group of nine nonusers. Each person was elaborately studied in a representative case research, but this report presents only data from two tests of intelligence (the Revised Beta and the WAIS) and two tests of personality (the MMPI and 16 PF). Extensive descriptive information is presented to characterize the participants. Groups were found not to differ on scores on intelligence tests, and the MMPI was found to reveal more group differences than the 16 PF. Users of barbiturates and sedative-hypnotics were most severely maladjusted, followed by users of opiates, users of cocaine, users of amphetamine and its congeners, and nonusers. Differences also appeared between combined users of stimulants, combined users of depressants, and nonusers, as well as between all drug users (as a group) and nonusers. This research is offered as a methodological paradigm for evaluating future studies. It illustrates how the representative case method may be expanded to permit comparisons among groups.

Hippies and college students: are they really different?

CPI and Dogmatism scores for 150 each 1960 and 1970 junior college Ss were compared with those for 105 hippies living in a forest setting. Separate analyses were performed for the males ( ns = 75, 75, and 79) and females ( ns = 75, 75, and 26). The 1970 college Ss' and hippies' scores were more similar to one another than the scores of either group were to those of the 1960 college Ss. The CPI Responsibility scale strongly differentiated the 3 groups; about 30% of the score variance was associated with group membership. On the whole, the hippie sample's scores were interpreted as indicating exaggerated personality characteristics common to today's college youth.