Personality differences of volunteer and nonvolunteer heroin and nonheroin drug users.

Abstract

Assessed effects of volunteering on investigations of drug abuse. MMPI profiles of 4 matched groups of 34 Ss each entering a drug-treatment program were compared: (a) heroin-using volunteers, (b) nonheroin drug-taking volunteers, (c) heroin-using nonvolunteers, and (d) nonheroin drug-taking nonvolunteers. All Ss were male, White, and 24 yrs of age. Volunteering heroin users and nonheroin drug users evidenced heightened disturbance in all aspects of adjustment as compared with heroin and nonheroin drug-using nonvolunteers. Control of voluntarism minimized differences between volunteer heroin users and nonheroin users but not between nonvolunteer heroin users and nonheroin drug users. Results do not support interpretations that predisposing personality features contribute to compulsive drug use. (20 ref)

MMPI comparison of Black heroin users volunteering or not volunteering for treatment.

“…The findings extend from white to black heroin users the generality of the notion that voluntarism is an influential parameter in personality studies of drug abusers. The degree of black volunteernonvolunteer differences, however, was not as pronounced as the white volunteer-nonvolunteer differences observed earlier (Penk & Robinowitz, 1976). The pattern of black volunteer-nonvolunteer differences was not the same as the pattern of white volunteer-nonvolunteer differences.…”

“…Subjects were consecutively admitted, black, male heroin users who were administered the MMPI, Form R, during their first week in an inpatient drug dependence treatment program of a Veterans Administration hospital. Subjects were classified as "volunteer" or "nonvolunteer" by the same criteria previously used to differentiate white volunteers from nonvolunteers (Penk & Robinowitz, 1976). Briefly, volunteer refers to heroin users seeking treatment of their own voli-In the public domain tion without discernible indications of coercion.…”

“…At least two sources of variance have been identified that merit further study: voluntarism and ethnicity. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles are usually more elevated among heroin users who volunteer for treatment than among those who do not volunteer (Penk & Robinowitz, 1976). Regarding ethnicity, black heroin users evidence significantly less malad-An extended version of this article is available on request.…”

Measuring psychosocial aspects of treatment outcome among compulsive drug users

“…That the informants of the more disturbed are more likely to return Pre-and Post-PARS makes intuitive sense and is consonant with a previous finding that the more disturbed are more likely to volunteer for treatment (Penk & Robinowitz, 1976). Degree of participation in an outcome study may be a behavioral indicator of the extent to which change in drugtaking behavior is intended or will occur.…”

Comments on voluntarism: Reply to Penk and Robinowitz.

“…Two articles on tests of the voluntarism hypothesis by Penk and Robinowitz (1976;1980) suggest that these investigators are convinced that voluntarism is a variable of importance in influencing self-reported psychopathology. In contrast, Sutker, Archer, and Allain (1979), without minimizing the potential effects of voluntarism per se, cautioned that its influence may be modified, if not overshadowed, by person-context characteristics across different settings and among varied groups of drug-dependent individuals (e.g., veteran/nonveteran addicts, chronic opiate/polydrug addicts) and by the consequences of not volunteering for treatment.…”