Date of Award

8-24-1988

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

Abstract

The MacAndrew scale (MAC) has been widely utilized as a tool in the assessment of alcohol abuse since its development in 1965. The MAC has generated a moderate amount of research, yet few studies have examined the psychometric properties of the MAC. Its internal consistency and temporal stability, in particular, have been neglected. This investigation was designed as a general evaluation of the psychometric properties of the MAC with a university population, a population for which the MAC has never been studied, but often employed.Subjects (N = 298) were undergraduate students from the University of North Dakota. Subjects in Sample 1 (N = 203) completed the MMPI, the MAC scale, and a self-report behavioral questionnaire. Subjects in Sample 2 (N = 95) completed the MAC scale on two separate occasions, separated by a five week interval. An alpha factor analysis was performed to determine the factor structure. Factor scores were generated using the multiple regression approach. Using the MAC total scores and factor scores, the relationship between the MMPI, self-report alcohol/drug items, self-report anti-sociality items, and the sex of the subject were examined. The reliability of the MAC scale was assessed by the methods of internal consistency and test-retest reliability.Five independent factors were extracted from the MAC and accounted for 24% of the total variance. Internal consistency was low for both the total score (r =.40) and factor scores (r =.18 to.51). Results from the self-report items indicated that alcohol abusers, tobacco users, drug users, males, and persons with a history of truancy, arrests, and runaways scored significantly higher on the MAC than their counterparts.These findings indicate that the MAC is sensitive to behaviors besides alcohol abuse, possesses low reliability, excessive item heterogeneity, and a complex empirical structure which provides little clarification of what the MAC is measuring. If the MAC is to be used in individual diagnoses of alcohol abuse, caution should be used and it should be applied only in conjunction with substantial information from other sources since the basis for the MAC's discriminations remains unclear.

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