Applications of Cloninger's subtypes in a female alcoholic sample

This study examined the incidence of Type 1/Type 2 symptoms and age of alcoholism onset in a population of alcoholic women in order to determine whether there were females similar to the Type 1 and Type 2 male alcoholics described by Cloninger and colleagues. Using a sample of 51 alcoholics divided into early and late alcoholism onset groups (less than 25 and greater than or equal to 25), the early onset group did not manifest merely Type 2 symptomatology nor did the late onset group manifest Type 1 symptoms without the occurrence of Type 2 symptoms, as would have been predicted by the Cloninger theory. Rather, the majority of women endorsed both types of symptoms regardless of their age of alcoholism onset, making classification by sympton type unsuccessful. However, combining symptoms across types (making a total of 7) produced 71% classification of subjects into early symptom onset (ESO) and late symptom onset (LSO) groups. Analyses indicated differences between the groups in each of five areas: (1) demographic and psychosocial variables, (2) alcohol abuse severity, (3) family history, (4) psychopathological symptoms, and (5) substance abuse history. In each case the ESO alcoholics resembled the characteristics of male Type 2 alcoholics reported in other studies. The findings indicate that modification of the Cloninger classification criteria to reflect age of symptom onset regardless of symptom "type" provides better classification of individual female alcoholics and suggests that female alcoholics are represented in both Type 1 and Type 2 alcoholic subtypes.