Investigated the construct validity of the Social Interest Index (SII) on a sample (N = 140) of hospitalized male alcoholics. Because of the inferred properties of social interest, it was hypothesized that the SII would relate positively with measures of some social traits, mental health, intelligence, education, and internal locus of control and would relate negatively with measures of other social traits and MMPI "pathology" scales. The hypotheses generally were supported. The significant positive correlation between the SII and social desirability was discussed along with other theoretical/methodological issues raised by the data.

The relationships between the Social Interest Index (SH) and other variables were explored in two studies of male alcoholics. The SH correlated positively with Achievement, Dominance, and Intraception of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule and negatively with Abasement and Succorance. The SH failed to correlate positively with Affiliation and Nurturance and unexpectedly correlated negatively with Autonomy. The SH was also found to relate positively to Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) measures of inner-directedness, present-field time orientation, mental health, self-significance, and interpersonal contact, present-field time orientation, mental health, self-significance, and interpersonal contact. The SH was positively related to Edwards (1957) Revised Social Desirability Scale (So-R), and most partial correlations for the SH and the POH measures were significant with So-R controlled. Overall, the SH scores were not significantly related to age, marital status, and socioeconomic status but positively related to educational level. The implications of the results were discussed.