Personality dimensions in male patients with early-onset alcohol dependence who seek treatment.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to examine the capacity of different personality dimensions to predict early-onset alcoholism (EOA).


METHODS
Participants were 176 consecutively admitted male inpatient alcohol dependents. Patients were grouped as EOA (onset before age 25) and late onset alcoholism (LOA).


RESULTS
Overall severity of psychopathology and alcohol dependence were higher in EOAs (51.1%) than LOAs, whereas self-directedness (SD) dimension of personality was lower in EOAs. Among the other personality dimensions only lower SD scores, together with lower current age predicted EOA.


CONCLUSIONS
Present study suggests that it is important to take EOA into consideration while planning the treatment of alcohol dependency, because of their higher probability of having low SD scores, as well as higher severity of psychopathology and alcohol-related problems.
Evren
Cuneyt
C
Research, Treatment and Training Center for Alcohol and Substance Dependence (AMATEM), Bakirkoy State Hospital for Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases, Istanbul, Turkey. cuneytevren@yahoo.co
Dalbudak
Ercan
E
Cakmak
Duran
D
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011599:Psychopathology; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013694:Temperament; D014421:Turkey