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CLAUDIA SANNIBALE1 & WAYNE HALL
Abstract
Aims. To evaluate Cloninger's typology of "alcoholism" using the Alcohol Symptom Scale (Gilligan et al., 1987). Participants. A sample of 300 Australian men and women with a life-time diagnosis of DSM-III-R alcohol abuse/dependence. Measures. The Alcohol Dependence Scale, the Short Alcoholism Screening Test, the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) Substance Abuse Module, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the CIDI core modules, the Family History Questionnaire and the Sensation Seeking Scale. Findings. The Alcohol Symptom Scale classified only 18% of the sample into either type 1 or type 2. There was mixed support for the hypothesized differences between type I and type 2 problem drinkers in pattern of alcohol abuse, gender, personality characteristics and familial aggregation of alcohol abuse. More women than men were classified as type 1 (19% vs. 6%) but, contrary to expectations, similar numbers were classified as type 2 problem drinkers (7% vs. 4%). As predicted, type 2 problem drinkers had more symptoms of antisocial personality disorder, more social consequences of drinking and higher sensation-seeking scores than type I problem drinkers. Conclusions. Cloninger's typology failed to classify two types of problem drinkers and it did not predict gender differences in symptoms of alcohol dependence, family history or personality. Schuckit, Irwin & Mahler's (1990) hypothesis that type 2 problem drinkers are more likely to have primary ASPD was supported.
Introduction
Cloninger (1987a) and colleagues (Bohman, Sigvardsson & Cloninger, 1981; Cloninger, Bohman & Sigvardsson, 1981) have developed "a theoretical model of alcoholic subtypes and their underlying personality traits [which] has been confirmed by replicable predictions in both Sweden and the United States" (Cloninger et al., 1988, p. 507). The typology has been received with relatively little criticism, with some exceptions (e.g. Littrell, 1988; Searles, 1990), and has influenced domains of research activity, particularly in the United States (Fillmore, Leino & Johnstone, 1994).
The present study evaluated the typology of alcoholism of Cloninger and colleagues (Gilligan, Reich & Cloninger, 1987; 1988; von Knorring et al., 1987) in an Australian sample of people with alcohol abuse or dependence as defined in DSM-III-R. According to Cloninger et al. (1988) the alcoholic subtypes, described in Table 1, are hypothesized to represent clinically and aetiologically discrete "phenotypes" (Bohman et al., 1987; Devor &...