[Temperament- and character traits as well as trait patterns in alcoholic men and controls]

This study is on the personality of alcoholics, an empirical investigation based on Cloninger's biopsychological temperament- and character-traits. His Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was applied to 94 detoxified men suffering from primary alcohol dependence as well as to controls matched for sex and sociodemographic data. The following questions were the matter of interest: (1) Do alcoholics and controls differ in their personality as reflected by the TCI and (2) are there indicators based on personality with potential relevance for differential therapies? A multiple univariate statistical comparison yielded significant differences between alcoholics and controls on only 2 subscales (Sentimentality, Resourcefulness). A multivariate analysis of the TCI temperament traits using two-sample configural frequency analysis revealed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Temperament patterns associated with Cloninger's Type-I/Type-II alcoholics could not be demonstrated. Analyzing the temperament and character traits of the alcohol dependent subjects with a log-linear model revealed two bivariate temperament-/character classifications on the scales "Harm Avoidance" and "Self-Directedness" as well as "Reward Dependence" and "Self Transcendence"-both making it possible to define subgroups which may be relevant for different therapeutical approaches. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that it may be useful to closer investigate the personality of alcoholics even if it is not principally different from that of control subjects.