Differentiation between acting-out and non-acting-out alcoholics with the Rorschach and Hand Test.

Two Hand Test and 18 Rorschach variables significantly differentiated two subgroups of aggressive and nonaggressive alcoholics (N = 60). The aggressive group could be characterized as hostile, impulsive, undercontrolled, undersocialized, and deficient in the capacity to pursue constructive environmental objectives. The results were largely in accord with other projective studies of known acting-out groups. The 11 predictor variables that emerged from a stepwise discriminant analysis appear to have practical value for recognizing the potential acting-out alcoholic and also provide evidence for the construct validity of the two projective tests used in this study.