Psychologist have evaluated the relationships between alcoholism and personality profiles in a number of research studies. Alcohol abuse is an untreated epidemic in the United States (Bergland, 2015). There is still a great deal of confusion in regard to the personality traits of men with excessive alcohol consumption and social stability. An article by Stephen Mason, Ph.D. states that addiction to drugs or alcohol depends on having an addictive personality, and this personality is found in 10 to 15 percent of the population (2009). It is perplexing that the excessive alcohol consumption has existed amidst careers, marriages, and stable housing. A study by Berglund, Roman, Balldin, Berggren, Eriksson, Gustavsson & Fahlke finds that these males do not suffer from an addictive personality (2011).
There are two types of alcoholism classified by Cloninger, Bohman and Sigvardsson. Type I alcoholism occurs in people with social stability and is usually late onset. There are no or very few psychopathological and social issues in these individuals. Type II alcoholism is earlier onset with severe dependence and psychopathological and social issues. Type II alcoholism is considered to be related to antisocial personality disorders. Type I alcoholism has not been correlated with one or more specific personality patterns. Therefore, the question for which the research was intended was whether or not Type I alcoholics suffer from a personality disorder that could be commonly called “addictive personality” (Berglund et al., 2011).
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The hypothesis of the research was that Type I alcoholics do not suffer from an addictive personality. Individuals who suffered from excessive alcohol intake responded to newspaper advertisements. The advertisements required that subjects be between the ages of 18-65 years of age, healthy and living in a permanent residence. They also had to be employed or retired/living on a pension. They could not have prior physical or psychiatric disorders. The control group was taken from the population-based Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Ageing because of a sub study performed on this group on the relationship between personality and health (Berglund et al., 2011).
After ensuring that subjects fit the criteria for DSM-IV alcohol abuse or dependence, they were given assessments using the Hamilton Depression Scale (HDS), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAS) and the self-reporting Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP). T-scores were created with the KSP personality test. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used in order to use a varying amount of variables and observations and in order to deal with the non-linear relationships between alcoholism and personality. The PCA was a perfect tool to use for research on personality and alcoholism because of the unique and very different circumstances of the subjects, which all resulted in fairly normal outcomes despite the excessive alcohol consumption (Berglund et al., 2011).
The HAM and HDS scores of the group controlling excessive alcohol were within normal limits. The KSP personality tests of this group matched the control group. The PCA score group revealed no between-group separation, although there were more outliers in the group with excessive alcohol consumers (Berglund et al., 2011). One variable that was not included was any qualitative analysis, which could account for the increase in outliers in the excessive alcohol group.
The greatest assumption and limitation in this research is the source of the excessive drinkers. It is assumed that these individuals are representative of the general population of excessive drinkers. It may be more beneficial to have a combined effort of recruitment methods such as surveys at physician’s offices. An acceptable population would be difficult to recruit in this instance due to the secrecy that often surrounds alcohol abuse.
While there are some limitations to this study in regard to this complex subject, it is worth noting that it finds no difference in the personality between the general population and that of excessive alcohol consumers. Therefore, excessive alcohol consumers do not suffer from an addictive personality.
- Bergland, C. (2015, June 04). What are the eleven symptoms of “Alcohol Use Disorder?” Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201506/what-are-the-eleven-symptoms-alcohol-use-disorder
- Berglund, K., Roman, E., Balldin, J., Berggren, U., Eriksson, M., Gustavsson, P., & Fahlke, C. (2011). Do men with excessive alcohol consumption and social stability have an addictive personality? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 257-260. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2010.00872.x
- Mason, S. (2009). The addictive personality: If drugs are addictive, how come I’m not addicted? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/look-it-way/200903/the-addictive-personality
