Examination of the Tridimensional Personality Hypothesis of Alcoholism Using Empirically Multivariate Typology

Abstract

Cloninger (1987) has hypothesized a tridimensional personality theory for two types of alcoholism, type 1 and type 2, that exhibit opposing clinical characteristics and personality traits. The Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) is designed to test this hypothesis on three independent dimensions--novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), and reward dependence (RD)--to evaluate the personality trait. We examined the tridimensional personality hypothesis by comparing TPQ scores between two empirically derived multivariate types of alcoholism. The present study included 191 male subjects with alcoholism. A cluster analysis was conducted using clinical characteristics, and two empirical types, type A and type B, were identified. Type A is similar to Cloninger's type 1 and type B is similar to type 2. The TPQ scores given to these two empirical types were compared. Scores on the NS and RD scales were in good agreement with the hypothesis, whereas the HA score was discordant with the hypothesis. HA is highly correlated with the depression scale score that is elevated in type B. We discussed the possibility that type B, which may be called a familial early-onset alcoholism, is related to character spectrum disorder.

Typologies of Alcohol Dependence. From Jellinek to Genetics and Beyond

“…Finally, we also note that some studies failed to replicate the binary models (Yoshino et al 1994;Sannibale and Hall 1998). Furthermore, Epstein and colleagues (2002) suggested that the Cloninger model is redundant with the age of onset schema and conclude that the dichotomous typologies may not be complex enough to be clinically useful descriptors of alcoholic samples (Epstein et al 2002).…”

Early‐Onset Alcoholism With Conduct Disorder: Go/No Go Learning Deficits, Working Memory Capacity, and Personality

“…Early-onset alcohol abuse is predicted by undercontrolled behavior at age 3 years (Caspi et al, 1996), high novelty-seeking and low harm avoidance in childhood (Cloninger et al, 1988;Masse and Tremblay, 1997) and adolescence (Wills et al, 1994), and externalizing (conduct problems) symptoms in early adolescence (Chassin et al, 1999). Early-onset antisocial (type II/B) alcoholism has been associated with disinhibited personality traits such as impulsivity, boredom susceptibility, thrill-and adventure-seeking (Sullivan et al, 1990;von Knorring et al, 1985von Knorring et al, , 1987, novelty-seeking (Ball, 1996;Ball et al, 1998;Sullivan et al, 1990;Yoshino et al, 1994), and aggressiveness (Babor et al, 1992;von Knorring et al, 1987). Although observational studies of children clearly implicate low harm avoidance in the development of substance use (Cloninger et al, 1988;Masse and Tremblay, 1997), low harm avoidance is not consistently reported in questionnaire studies of antisocial EOA (Ball et al, 1998;Sullivan et al, 1990;Yoshino et al, 1994).…”

Co‐occurrence of Obsessive‐Compulsive Personality Traits in Young and Middle‐Aged Japanese Alcohol‐Dependent Men

“…Previous studies had reported that younger and early-onset alcoholics differ from late-onset and middle-aged alcoholics in terms of antisocial personality disorder, impulsiveness, and poor prognosis (Babor et al, 1992;Cloninger, 1987;Yoshino et al, 1994). The present study's finding that both young and middle-aged alcoholics have OCPD traits is consistent with the findings of the ECA studies (Karno et al, 1988;Regier et al, 1990), which reported the coprevalence of OCD and various disorders, including alcoholism, and with a study of inpatient alcoholics (Hesselbrock et al, 1985), which reported the coprevalence of alcoholism and various anxiety disorders, including OCD.…”

“…Several studies (Babor et al, 1992;Cloninger, 1987;Yoshino et al, 1994) have noted that young and early-onset alcoholics differ from late-onset alcoholics in a variety of clinical characteristics, including personality traits. If younger and early-onset alcoholics have a higher coprevalence of OCD symptoms than late-onset alcoholics, as suggested by the ECA study, their OCD traits may relate to an increased number of compulsive symptoms and behaviors.…”