Age differences on alcoholic MMPI scales: a discriminant analysis approach.

Ninety-one male alcoholic inpatients were administered the MMPI after detoxification. Subjects were divided into four age groups. One-way analysis of variance was calculated on the 13 clinical scales and 15 experimental scales (A, R, ES, MT, LB, CA, DY, DO, RE, PR, ST, CN, AT, SO-R, AMAC). In addition, two discriminant analyses were calculated to evaluate whether the inclusion of the 15 experimental scales would increase the percent of correctly classified alcoholics according to age. Results indicated that the Psychopathic Deviant and Paranoia scales declined with increasing age. The Low Back Pain scale indicated a decline from the 50-65 group to the 20-29 group, while the Responsibility scale increased with age. Results from the two discriminant analyses suggested that inclusion of the 15 experimental scales improved the percentage of correctly classified alcoholics.