title: Associations Between Personality and Drinking Motives Among Abstinent Adult Alcoholic Men and Women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Men and women differ in personality characteristics and may be motivated to use alcohol for different reasons. The goals of the present study were to characterize personality and drinking motives by gender and alcoholism status in adults, and to determine how alcoholism history and gender are related to the associations between personality traits and drinking motivation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Personality characteristics were assessed with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, which includes Extraversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism and Lie (Social Conforming) scales. To evaluate drinking motivation, we asked abstinent long-term alcoholic men and women, and demographically similar nonalcoholic participants to complete the Drinking Motives Questionnaire, which includes Conformity, Coping, Social and Enhancement scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patterns of personality scale scores and drinking motives differed by alcoholism status, with alcoholics showing higher psychopathology and stronger motives for drinking compared with controls. Divergent gender-specific relationships between personality and drinking motives also were identified, which differed for alcoholics and controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Alcoholic and control men and women differed with respect to the associations between personality traits and motives for drinking. A better understanding of how different personality traits affect drinking motivations for alcoholic men and women can inform individualized relapse prevention strategies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Men and women differed in their personality traits and their motivations for drinking, and these relationships differed for abstinent alcoholic and control groups. Additionally, alcoholics scored higher on Neuroticism and Psychoticism personality traits, and had lower Enhancement and Social Conformity drinking motives than nonalcoholic controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.|VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mosher Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.|VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA.|Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oscar-Berman
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.|VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Maaria I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Kemppainen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.|VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Mary M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Valmas
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.|VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Kayle S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Sawyer
mesh_terms: D064829:Alcohol Abstinence / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012737:Sex Factors