Risk factors for addiction have received extensive empirical attention. Specific risk factors for women Religious (nuns), however, are not well known. This report examines risk factors for alcoholism in a retrospective study of 148 chemically dependent women Religious in treatment. Negative emotionality, a personality measure, was the only significant predictor of alcoholism severity in a joint multiple regression with childhood trauma, parental alcoholism, mental health history, ego strength, and self esteem. These findings imply that treatment of this group in chemical-dependency programs needs to include psychological modalities beyond the traditional psychoeducation in order to adequately address difficulties in affect regulation.