Determining the construct validity of the addiction acknowledgement scale from the MMPI-2.

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS) from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), Denial scale (DEN) from the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory, and the MMPI-2's Lie and Defensiveness validity scales. The purpose of this study was to infer construct validity by determining a relationship between the AAS and the MAST and DEN, two established measures of acknowledgement to alcohol and drug-related problems and denial. Scores on these measures were obtained from a sample of 35 men at a rural, midwestern mental health center who had been arrested for driving under the influence or other drug-related arrests. Thirty valid protocols were used for this study. Pearson product-moment coefficients were calculated to determine the relationship between the AAS and MAST, the AAS and DEN, the AAS and the MMPI-2's Lie validity scale, and the AAS and MMPI-2's Defensiveness validity scale. A significant positive correlation of .53 (p < .01) was found between the AAS and MAST, as well as a significant negative correlation of -.37 (p < .05) between the AAS and DEN. This study demonstrated that the moderate significant relationship between the AAS and the MAST only accounted for 28% of the variance, leaving 72% of the variance unaccounted. Additionally, only 14% of the variance in the DEN was accounted for by the AAS. Despite the statistically significant relationships between the AAS and MAST and the AAS and DEN further investigation of the AAS is needed to establish the validity of this measure.