Frederick L. McGuire

Personality Factors in Highway Accidents

This article describes those personality factors associated with highway accidents. In general, the accident-haver is described as being emotionally less mature, less responsible, more asocial/anti-social, and not as well adjusted. He also tends to have a more disturbed history, such as an unhappy childhood, delinquency, family disruption, and uneven work record. A variety of specific behaviors is listed under these general terms. Many characteristics of the accident-haver are age related, and among “normal” people tend to be modified as one matures. The role of external stress and the concept of accident proneness are also discussed.

Menstrual distress and acceptance of sexual role

Abstract This study relates symptoms of menstrual distress to the acceptance of sexual role. One hundred women were administered the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire and a measure of how accepting each subject was of being a woman, having and nursing babies, menstruation as a normal routine, the dominant social roles of men, and sexuality. The Moos Sub-Scales of pain, concentration, autonomic reaction, and control correlated significantly and negatively with role acceptance, as did dysmenorrhea; premenstrual tension did not. The notion that acceptance of role is correlated with many symptoms of menstrual distress is supported, but the origin of these symptoms does not appear to be necessarily psychological.

A Review of Psychoactive Drug-Involved Deaths in Nine Major United States Cities

Detailed psychosocial and biomedical data were collected in 2,000 psychoactive drug-involved deaths occurring from 1972 through 1974 in nine large cities in the United States. The cases were selected representatively by the medical examiners or coroners in each city. Also, proficiency studies were carried out of the toxicological laboratories associated with these nine cooperating data collection centers. There were striking intercity psychosocial and biomedical differences in these psychoactive drug-involved deaths. These differences were based not simply in demographic regional population differences but also on the kinds of psychoactive drugs used as well as the role of the drug in contributing to death and whether the death was a result of an accident, suicide, homicide, or unknown intent. Also, a lack of uniformity was demonstrated in the quality control of the toxicological laboratories associated with the offices of these nine medical examiners or coroners, which suggests varying degrees of accuracy in resulting medicolegal diagnoses. Hence national programs of drug abuse deterrence or prevention and treatment should deal specifically with the variety of psychoactive drug-involved deaths occurring in different urban areas rather than approaching these problems globally as if they were uniform and homogeneous, and our toxicological proficiency studies accentuate the importance of mandatory quality control studies for all toxicological laboratories in the United States.

The accuracy of estimating the sobriety of drinking drivers

The mere act of driving with a blood alcohol level (BAL) of 10% + is punishable in many states. In addition, under the so-called dram shop law the proprietor of an establishment or a host at a private party at which liquor is served to a person who subsequently commits an alcohol-related offense may be prosecuted and held liable for damages incurred by that individual. It is apparent that an increasingly larger number of law enforcement personnel and private citizens will be required to Judge the sobriety of others. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the accuracy of such estimates. BAL data were obtained from 1,115 drivers at a roadside survey during which each interviewer was required to estimate the sobriety of the driver. At highway patrol sobriety checkpoints the number of drivers arrested was compared with the number of drivers in the sample estimated to possess BALs of .10% or higher. Both sources correctly identified approximately 21% of those drivers with BALs of .10% or higher.

Drinking and Driving Habits of Californians

This paper presents a survey of blood alcohol levels found among 934 California weekend drivers in order to provide a profile of drinking and driving habits; analysis is by sex, age, day of week, and hour. A comparison is also made with similar surveys conducted in other geographical locations. It was found that during the evening hours of a typical weekend about 30% of all drivers registered a positive BAL and may very well be impaired. These California data were very comparable to those gathered in other parts of the United States, which suggests that the drinking and driving habits of the general population are relatively independent of geographic location.

Arrest record and retention in methadone maintenance treatment.

It was found that when compared with those who stay in methadone maintenance treatment for less than 18 months, those who remain at least 18 months have a lower pretreatment and a lower in-treatment arrest record. It is questioned, however, if this group entered with a favorable bias and would have responded better to any form of treatment, including simple dispensation of methadone.

A Survey of a Freshman Medical Student Class: Will Psychiatry Recruit Well in the ’80s?

In a pilot assessment of recruitment potential for psychiatry in the 1980s, the authors surveyed a class of 90 entering medical school freshmen as to their background, demography, interests, and possible career choices. Of fifteen possible specialty choices, psychiatry ranked eighth in popularity, with fully 11% of the students expressing high interest and an additional 32% mild interest in psychiatry as their career choice. The class as a whole was clinically, humanistically, and altruistically oriented, and expressed most interest in “interpersonal” clinical specialties, of which family medicine was by far the number one choice. The authors review their findings in the light of the literature and statistics on psychiatric education, and conclude that, although one must be cautious about generalizing from only one class in only one school, a pool of interested students may well exist for ultimate recruitment to psychiatry in the ’80s. The authors suggest some strategies to research this issue further and to increase the likelihood that interest will be translated into actual specialty choice.