Examination of Cloninger's type I and type II alcoholism with a sample of men alcoholics in treatment.
Cloninger's clinical method of classifying alcoholics into two groups (Types I and II) was examined with data obtained from 360 VA hospitalized male alcoholic patients. For operational criteria, the Cloninger clinical method of subtyping alcoholics employs age-of-onset of problem drinking and symptom-clusters supposedly associated with each subtype. Marked overlap was found between the symptom-clusters used to define the two subtypes. Ninety-one percent of the entire sample satisfied criteria for both symptom-clusters. Dividing the sample by early-onset (Type II, less than or equal to 25 years) and late-onset (Type I, greater than 26 years) alcoholism did not substantially reduce the overlap between symptom-clusters; i.e., 96% of the early-onset and 83% of the late-onset subgroups were positive for both symptom-clusters. Only 21 men (6%) could be classified when both age-of-onset and the type-appropriate symptom-cluster were used to separate patients. In hospital settings, at least, these findings suggest that the two-group clinical alcoholism typology proposed by Cloninger basically reflects the age-of-onset of problem drinking.
Penick
E C
EC
Department of Psychiatry, Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City 66103.
Powell
B J
BJ
Nickel
E J
EJ
Read
M R
MR
Gabrielli
W F
WF
Liskow
B I
BI
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors