Multivariate analysis of personality correlates of alcohol and drug abuse in a prison population.

Degree of alcohol and drug abuse among 215 prisoners (mean age 26.5 yrs) was analyzed in relation to MMPI scales by means of bivariate, multiple, and canonical correlational procedures. The canonical correlational analysis identified a 1st dimension in which increasing levels of both alcohol and drug use were associated with a generalized propensity for social nonconformity, coupled with a noteworthy anxiety component (F, Pd, and Pt), and a 2nd dimension relating alcohol use alone to neurotic hypochondriacal features (Hs) and drug use alone to psychopathic characteristics (L, Pd, and Ma). Methodological considerations are discussed, emphasizing the advantages of an approach that simultaneously treats alcohol and drug use as continuous variables and seeks to identify the magnitude and nature of the independent components of personality test score variance associated with them. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)