THE TRIDIMENSIONAL PERSONALITY MODEL - INFLUENCING VARIABLES IN A SAMPLE OF DETOXIFIED ALCOHOL DEPENDENTS

C.R. Cloninger proposed a biosocial model for personality, linking per sonality traits to patterns of responses to various external stimuli, including alcohol. The Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) was administered in a multicenter study to detoxified alcohol-dependen t patients (N = 521). The objectives of the study were to evaluate (1) the expression of the three personality dimensions, novelty-seeking ( NS), harm avoidance (HA), and reward dependence (RD), of the TPQ in th is sample. and (2) the influence of different variables on these perso nality dimensions. The following variables were selected for a multipl e and a stepwise regression analysis: sex, family history for major ps ychiatric disorders, marital status, occupation. age at study enrollme nt, age of onset of alcoholism, serum cholesterol level, intake of neu roleptics or benzodiazepines for detoxification, and severity of depre ssion and anxiety. In comparison to Austrian normative data, both sexe s of detoxified alcohol addicts scored higher in HA. The variables exa mined explain 23% of the variance of NS and 35% of HA. Only one variab le, namely age of onset, is significantly influencing NS (19% explaine d variance). HA is significantly influenced by three variables: anxiet y state, anxiety trait, and sex (32% explained variance). RD is not in fluenced by any of the variables examined. Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company