Mo. Howard et al., CLONINGER TRIDIMENSIONAL THEORY OF PERSONALITY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY - APPLICATIONS TO SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS, Journal of studies on alcohol, 58(1), 1997, pp. 48-66
Objective. To evaluate studies that applied Cloninger's tridimensional
theory of personality to substance abusers. Method: Medline and Psych
Info data bases were searched for studies published between 1986 and m
id-1995 that used the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ).
A supplemental manual search was conducted to identify additional eval
uations of the tridimensional theory. Reports were reviewed if they in
cluded substance abusers or related tridimensional traits to substance
use measures. Results: Factor analyses did not consistently support t
he tridimensionality of the TPQ. Novelty Seeking (NS) traits distingui
shed alcoholics from nonalcoholics, Type B and Type 2 alcoholics from
their Type A and Type 1 counterparts, smokers from nonsmokers, and ind
ividuals (substance abusers and nonabusers) with and without antisocia
l personality disorder (ASPD). Tridimensional traits independently pre
dicted early onset alcohol abuse and serious delinquency in studies th
at did not employ the TPQ and were significantly associated with concu
rrent substance abuse among adolescents. Most studies that compared no
nalcoholic youth with positive and negative family histories of alcoho
lism reported nonsignificant TPQ differences or very small effects. Fe
w alcoholics, cigarette smokers or sons of alcoholics displayed Type 1
(low novelty seeking, high harm avoidance, high reward dependence) or
Type 2 (high novelty seeking, low harm avoidance, low reward dependen
ce) TPQ profiles, but rarely were levels of tridimensional traits dete
rmined by reference to established norms. Conclusions: NS predicts ear
ly onset alcohol abuse and criminality and discriminates alcoholics ex
hibiting antisocial behavior and persons with ASPD from their nonantis
ocial counterparts. Findings for the Harm Avoidance (HA) and Reward De
pendence TPQ subscales are much less consistent. Some support for the
role of elevated HA in intensity of substance use has been adduced. At
present, the utility of the TPQ for prevention or clinical purposes i
s not well established.