PERSONALITY-CHARACTERISTICS OF SISTERS AND SPOUSES OF MALE ALCOHOLICS

Sisters of alcoholics from high-density multigenerational families wer e assessed to determine personality characteristics. Spousal similarit y was evaluated in proband/spouse pairs and in spouse pairs from the p arental generation, allowing for comparisons of selection versus conta gion as explanations for this similarity. Sisters were found to differ from control women with respect to Alienation and Social Closeness fr om the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, and Scale 6 (Parano ia) from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Only spouses from the parental generation were similar on Alienation, suggesting t hat exposure over time (contagion) leads to greater similarity in pare nts from High-Risk families. Modest correlations in spouse pairs from both generations suggest that assortative mating for Social Closeness occurs among the parents of these individuals from High-Risk families, and further suggest that a diminished level of Social Closeness for s isters of alcoholics may be mediated in part by additive genetic varia nce. It is concluded that assortative mating for particular traits may contribute to increased risk for alcoholism. Also, failure to mate as sortatively for other traits (e.g., Traditionalism, Harm Avoidance) ma y also contribute to increased rates in High-Risk families.