Temporal stability of the Experienced Control Scale within an alcoholic male population.

Several reports have suggested relations of alcohol abuse to level of control experienced over various life pressures or forces. This study assessed test-retest reliability of the Experienced Control Scale (EC) (Tiffany, 1967) within a male alcoholic sample. The EC was completed on two occasions 1 week apart by 48 inpatients on an alcoholism treatment unit. Resulting test-retest reliability coefficients were .57 for the Internal ratio score, .79 for the External ratio score, .72 for the sum of the two ratio scores, and from .56 to .69 for the four basic scores used in computing ratio scores. Intellectual ability as assessed by the Shipley Institute of Living Scale was unrelated to EC scores and occasionally but conflictingly related to temporal stability of EC scores. Neither age nor education showed a significant relationship to temporal stability of the EC or to ratio scores. Implications of findings for clinical and research applications of the EC are discussed, particularly support for combining the ratio scores rather than treating them separately. Possible determinants of the obtained stability of the EC also are explored.

Disulfiram acceptors and refusers: do they differ?

The present study examined possible personality and mood state correlates of alcoholics' decisions to accept or refuse disulfiram (Antabuse) as past of their treatment program. Subjects were 104 male veterans in an inpatient alcohol treatment program who were offered disulfiram after detoxification and evaluation. All subjects completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Profile of Mood States, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Subjects were classified as acceptors (n = 78) or refusers (n = 26) based on their response to staff encouragement to undergo a trial of disulfiram. There were no significant group differences on age, racial composition, or any of the personality or mood state measures, with the exception of a trend (p less than .06) for acceptors to score higher than refusers on the masculinity-femininity scale of the MMPI. Examinations of distributions of MMPI profile code types similarly showed no differences between the two groups. Possible contextual explanations of these results are examined. Findings offer no support for the assumption that agreement to take disulfiram signifies greater motivation or intention to remain abstinent.