The hypothesis that among clinical samples of substance abusers blacks score lower than whites on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was supported when comparing 494 white and 159 black male veterans seeking treatment for polydrug abuse. Blacks scored lower on the Depression, Hysteria, Psychopathic Deviate, and Psychasthenia scales when age, education, socioeconomic status, and intelligence were controlled. The findings do not support the notion of ethnic bias in the MMPI. Rather, the results underscore the need for identifying moderator variables that differentially interact to produce in comparison to whites, lower black profiles among substance abusers but higher black profiles among psychiatric patients.

Gynther's general hypothesis that older subjects self-report better adjustment on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory than do younger subjects was tested among 616 male chronic alcoholics classified into five age groups: 30 or younger, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61 or older. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance and covariance supported Gynther's general hypothesis as well as three specific corollary hypotheses predicting that older alcoholics, relative to younger alcoholics, are lower in impulsivity-control difficulties, are higher in health concerns, but are not different in social introversion. Treatment implications and theoretical notions about personality factors in alcoholism at different stages in the adult life cycle are discussed.

Compared levels of intellectual functioning, as measured by the Raven Progressive Matrices (RPM), with expected levels of visual memory, as measured by the Benton Revised Visual Retention Test (BVRT). Whereas substance abusers scored within the average range of intelligence on the RPM, on the BVRT the means of both heroin addicts (n = 467) and polydrug abusers (n = 310) were 2 standard deviations below expected performance. Significant differences found in analysis of covariance and multiple regression models were not attributable to either demographic factors (age, education, socioeconomic status) or personality differences (as measured by MMPI scales). Like polydrug abusers, heroin addicts evidenced interference in immediate, short-term memory, confirming earlier findings of marked perceptual disturbances among detoxified addicts. Unlike earlier findings, results reveal significant ethnic differences. A need for establishing Black norms is indicated for the BVRT and perhaps for other neuropsychological assessment procedures that lack ethnic norms. (9 ref)

Two hypotheses about visual memory were tested among 55 male Hispanic-American heroin addicts: (a) Hispanics display interferences in visual memory by comparison with another test of intellectual efficiency, and (b) Hispanics' visual memory is more comparable to blacks' than to whites'. Both hypotheses were supported. On the Revised Visual Retention Test, Hispanics scored two standard deviations below their average performance on Raven Progressive Matrices, and Hispanics differed less from blacks than from whites. Findings are discussed with respect to implications for evaluating and treating heroin addiction and for the question of norms for minorities on neuropsychology tests.