Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1992

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Leonard Handler

Committee Members

Robert Wahler, John Lounsbury, F. Stanley Lusby

Abstract

This study examined the characterological differences between a sample of homeless men living in the Knoxville area, and comparison samples of chronically mentally ill men from a state psychiatric hospital population, and chronically indigent men. These differences were quantified using standard psychological assessment devices. Data from 20 homeless men, 10 chronically mentally ill men and 10 chronically indigent men were collected using the Draw-A-Person Test, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised, the Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorschach Inkblot Technique. Assessments of object relations development based on the Rorschach data were obtained using the Concept of the Object Scale, while the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale provided data from the Thematic Apperception Test stories. Demographic and historical data were also collected using semi-structured interviews. A number of significant differences among the groups were found on several of the measurement variables, including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised, the Thematic Apperception Test and some of the demographic and historical data. The clinical configuration formed by the data suggest that the homeless group members were, on the average, were more like the indigent comparison group in terms of cognitive functioning and specific aspects of object relations development than the psychiatric comparison. This was reflected in some of the demographic and historical variables, particularly the history of interpersonal relationships variable. It was tentatively concluded that there was a stable difference between the homeless and comparison groups at the characterological level, but that further investigation is warranted.

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