title: The tridimensional personality model: influencing variables in a sample of detoxified alcohol dependents. European Fluvoxamine in Alcoholism Study Group.
abstract: C.R. Cloninger proposed a biosocial model for personality, linking personality traits to patterns of responses to various external stimuli, including alcohol. The Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) was administered in a multicenter study to detoxified alcohol-dependent patients (N = 521). The objectives of the study were to evaluate (1) the expression of the three personality dimensions, novelty-seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), and reward dependence (RD), of the TPQ in this sample, and (2) the influence of different variables on these personality dimensions. The following variables were selected for a multiple and a stepwise regression analysis: sex, family history for major psychiatric disorders, marital status, occupation, age at study enrollment, age of onset of alcoholism, serum cholesterol level, intake of neuroleptics or benzodiazepines for detoxification, and severity of depression and anxiety. In comparison to Austrian normative data, both sexes of detoxified alcohol addicts scored higher in HA. The variables examined explain 23% of the variance of NS and 35% of HA. Only one variable, namely age of onset, is significantly influencing NS (19% explained variance). HA is significantly influenced by three variables: anxiety state, anxiety trait, and sex (32% explained variance). RD is not influenced by any of the variables examined.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital for Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Meszaros
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Willinger
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schönbeck
authors.forename: H N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Aschauer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001143:Arousal; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D016666:Fluvoxamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D016666:Fluvoxamine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors