Perceived family environments among ethnic groups of compulsive heroin users.

Abstract

Predictions that both personality and environmental factors are implicated in heroin addiction were explored with personality measures operationalized by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and by family social climate measures operationalized by the Family Environment Scales (Moos et al. , 1974). Hypotheses were supported. Heroin addicts differed appreciably in personality from normative data (Psychopathic deviate, the highest clinical scale; Family Problems, the highest content scale). Heroin users deviated significantly from normative samples in retrospective views of both their past and present family environments (significantly higher Achievement Orientation, Moral-Religious Emphasis, and Organization, contrasted by significantly lower Intellectual-Cultural and Active Recreational Orientations). White heroin users ( n = 39) evidenced greater deviance in both personality and family environment than black heroin users ( n = 63). Comparisons with Mexican-American heroin users, white polydrug users, and nondrug-abusing comparison groups indicated that, for many addicts, compulsive heroin use is associated with social nonconformity in personality that may be a reaction against family demands for achievement without sufficient modeling of instrumental role skills.