title: The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory II: stability over time? A seven-year follow-up study of substance abusers in treatment.
abstract: Measuring personality disorders among substance abusers may entail special problems related to the reliability and validity of the instruments. The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory II (MCMI-II), a well-known self-reporting instrument, was used in a prospective study of drug abusers from 21 treatment programs in Norway (n = 481) to investigate the influence of substance abuse on the reliability and stability of the MCMI personality traits at intake to treatment and after 7 years (n = 342). As regards the drug-abusing and drug-free subgroups, the MCMI-II dimensional scores were equally reliable and stable in both groups, and were not influenced by the abusing state. Using the MCMI-II in a categorical diagnostic way did not show sufficient predictive validity. The MCMI-II dimensional scores should therefore be used to measure personality disorder traits among help-seeking and former drug abusers.
authors.affiliation: SERAF/Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research, Ullevål Hospital, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. edle.ravndal@medisin.uio.no
authors.forename: Edle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ravndal
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vaglum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*