Dimensions of Alienation and Pathology

Abstract

The Keniston Alienation Scale was administered to a group of 47 adolescent psychiatric hospital patients, to a control group of 78 college undergraduates and to the staff (n = 28) of the psychiatric hospital. Three main factors emerged: interpersonal alienation, self-repudiation, and cultural alienation. The patient group scored much higher on the first two factors, but cultural alienation did not differentiate any of the groups and seems unrelated to pathology. Clinical data showed that patients high on self-repudiation have a greater tendency toward withdrawal and depression, whereas those low on this dimension were characterized by anti-social behavior. The findings are discussed in relation to the clinical validity of the alienation scale, and the dangers of treating alienation as a unitary dimension.