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The Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire as a Predictor of Relapse in Detoxified Alcohol Dependents
Author(s) -
Meszaros Kurt,
Lenzinger Elisabeth,
Hornik Kurt,
Füreder Thomas,
Willinger Ulrike,
Fischer Gabriele,
Schönbeck Georg,
Aschauer Harald N.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1999.tb04141.x
Subject(s) - novelty seeking , harm avoidance , reward dependence , psychology , personality , logistic regression , clinical psychology , big five personality traits , alcohol dependence , relapse prevention , personality disorders , predictive value , psychiatry , novelty , alcohol , medicine , social psychology , chemistry , biochemistry
Personality traits have been found as strong predictors for treatment response in different psychiatric disorders. We administered the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire, which measures the three personality dimensions: novelty seeking, harm avoidance (HA), and reward dependence, as introduced by Cloninger in a multicenter study (11 centers in the United Kingdom, Eire, Switzerland, and Austria) with detoxified alcohol‐dependent patients ( n = 521). The objective of this study was to evaluate a possible predictive value of these three dimensions on relapse over 1‐year follow up. A logistic regression analysis showed that novelty seeking is a strong predictor for relapse in detoxified male alcoholics ( p = 0.0007; p values adjusted for treatment), but not in females. In both sexes, HA and reward dependence were of no predictive value. However, we found a trend for significance of HA for predicting “early” relapse (4 weeks) in females ( p = 0.074). Our results show that Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire personality traits have direct clinical applications for prediction of relapse in detoxified alcohol dependents and indicate the necessity of additional therapeutic treatment in risk groups.