FAMILY HISTORY OF ALCOHOLISM, ALCOHOL-USE DISORDERS AND THE 5-FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY

This study examines NEO-FFI correlates of risk for alcoholism, alcohol use disorders and alcoholism subtyping dimensions in a mixed-gender s ample of 468 young adults (mean age = 21.3) presumed to be at high ris k (n = 239) or low risk (n = 229) for alcoholism on the basis of a fam ily history of paternal alcoholism. The NEO-FFl is a brief personality inventory measuring each of the key dimensions of the five-factor mod el of personality (FFMP), a comprehensive, empirically-derived model o f personality structure. Familial risk for alcoholism was positively a ssociated with openness and negatively associated with agreeableness a nd conscientiousness. Alcohol use disorders were positively associated with neuroticism and negatively associated with agreeableness and con scientiousness. With the exceptions of alcoholism subtyped by comorbid antisocial personality disorder and by familial alcoholism, all of th e alcoholic subtypes examined were related to at least one of the five dimensions. We conclude that the FFMP holds promise for studying pers onality traits in alcohol use disorders and in bringing a unifying per spective to research and clinical work in this area.