Examined relationships between the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) Scales, Beck Depression Inventory, Trait subscales of the State‐Trait Personality Inventory, and dental ratings of oral hygiene and presence of periodontal disease with dental outpatients (N = 101) at a Veterans Administration Medical Center Dental Clinic. Results indicated that this sample of outpatients scored comparably on MHLC Health Internality and Health Externality to a sample reported by Wallston and Wallston. Older dental patients, in the present sample, scored significantly higher on Powerful Others Externality in contrast to younger Ss, which suggests greater reliance on health professionals for dental health. Confirmatory evidence is presented on the negative correlations of depression, anger, and anxiety with Health Internality. Differential approaches to dental treatment are discussed.

While anxiety is part of the clinical picture for alcohol abusers, there are no published normative data available for this population on state and trait anxiety as assessed by the STAI (Form Y). Pre‐and posttreatment STAI‐Y scores were examined from 107 males who volunteered for treatment at a Veterans Administration Medical Center Alcohol Dependence Treatment Unit. Normative data on the STAI (Form Y) from an alcoholic sample are presented (N = 107). Comparison of pre‐admission and posttreatment scores yielded significant differences for both state anxiety and trait anxiety. Use of the STAI‐Y with alcoholic inpatients for assessing self‐reported changes of both transitory (state) anxiety and stable (trait) anxiety seems appropriate. The need for further construct validation as well as systematic manipulation of treatment variables and situational factors with this population is discussed.

Anxiety has been identified in the research literature on alcohol abusers as an important clinical variable. Little published data on State‐ and Trait‐Anxiety scores from the STAI (Form Y) are available. Pre‐ and post treatment STAI‐Y scores were examined from two independent, but similar samples of male inpatients at a VA Medical Center Alcohol Dependence Treatment Unit. Additional normative data from both samples are presented (N = 219). Scores for both State‐ and Trait‐Anxiety were compared between samples; no significant differences were found except for post‐treatment Trait‐Anxiety. The 1980 sample scored lower on this subscale. The findings suggest that the STAI (Form Y) is a stable instrument across time when used to assess anxiety in an alcoholic population. The need for further investigation on the correlates between observable behaviors of alcoholics and the personality construct of anxiety is discussed.

Examined the psychometric properties of the Health Locus of Control (HLC) Scale with inpatients from medical and surgical wards ( N = 111) at a Veterans Administration Medical Center. Factor analyses suggested that the twofactor solution met important criteria that involved simple structure, parsimony, and psychological meaningfulness. Factor I was comprised entirely of salient items that were internally worded, and Factor I1 was comprised of salient externally worded items. Item remainder correlation coefficients were calculated; the lowest value was .18 for item 5, and the highest value was .45 for items 1 and 10. Cronbach's alpha was .63 for the internally worded items and .56 for the externally worded items. The psychometric properties were considered adequate, although results were somewhat lower than those reported in the original HLC article. Clinical application of the scale with medical and surgical inpatients is discussed with particular emphasis on outcome studies.