Development of MMPI-A alcohol/drug problem scales.

The present study introduces two new scales for the assessment of alcohol and other drug problems developed from the new Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A), including the rationally constructed Alcohol/Drug Problems Acknowledgement Scale (ACK) and the empirically-derived Alcohol/Drug Problems Proneness Scale (PRO). Validity of these scales is examined by comparing scores from a sample of adolescents hospitalized for alcohol and other drug problems with a normative sample of adolescents and with a sample of adolescents in psychiatric inpatient treatment. Results suggest that ACK and PRO show promise in the detection and description of alcohol and other drug problems in young people. Comparisons of ACK and PRO with other adult-derived MMPI-2 scales (e.g., the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale, MAC-R and the Addiction Potential Scale) provide support for the practice of developing age-appropriate instruments for adolescents.