Female Alcoholism: Differences Between Female Alcoholics With and Without a History of Additional Substance Misuse

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate personality traits and platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity, as well as occurrence of personality disorder criteria, family characteristics, and criminal activity as related to misuse pattern in a sample of female in-patients with severe alcohol dependence. In accordance with theoretical assumptions and empirical findings of underlying neurobiological correlates of disinhibition in individuals with double or multiple misuse patterns, the female alcoholics were divided into subgroups with: (1) alcohol as their single drug of misuse (ALC; n = 16); (2) a history of additional substance misuse (ALC-DRUG; n = 11). Platelet MAO activity of the female subgroups was studied in comparison to a control group of non-clinical female subjects. Marked differences were obtained between the two subgroups. The ALC-DRUG females scored significantly higher with regard to Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) impulsiveness, anxiety-related traits, and non-conformity, displayed higher frequency of depression in first degree relatives, were more frequently involved in criminal activity, and more frequently diagnosed for any personality disorder according to DSM-IV, axis II. Finally, the ALC-DRUG females displayed significantly lower platelet MAO activity than controls. In conclusion, the results support the usefulness of a classification of severe alcoholic female subjects according to having/not having a history of additional substance misuse. The present female alcoholics with a history of additional misuse formed a group of individuals fulfilling the criteria similar for male type 2 alcoholism.

Two types of classification in female alcoholism

“…Also, there was an important lifetime comorbidity with depressive (over 70%), anxiety (40%), and personality disorders (about 50%), avoidant PD and borderline PD being the most frequent. These findings are largely supported by those reported elsewhere (Hesselbrock et al 1985;Ross et al 1988;Nace et al 1991;Kessler et al 1997;Hallman et al 2001). Some authors Cloninger et al 1981;Gilligan et al 1988) assumed that female alcoholism was a unitary disorder and that type II alcoholism was limited to men.…”

“…The history of repeated suicide attempts along with violent behaviour and arrests under the influence of alcohol could be tentatively interpreted as an expression of impulsivity, and a higher degree of impulsiveness was found to be more frequent in type II than in type I male alcoholics and healthy controls (Cloninger et al 1989;von Knorring et al 1987;Lykouras et al 2004;Echeburúa et al 2008). Associations between all these variables are known: associations between high alcohol use in women and high impulsivity (Poikolainen 2000;Grano et al 2004), impulsivity and paternal alcoholism (Petry et al 2002), impulsivity, violence, and suicide risk (Moussas et al 1999;McGirr et al 2006), female alcoholism, impulsiveness and additional substance misuse (Hallman et al 2001).…”

“…In spite of the attempts to classify female alcoholism (Schuckit et al 1969;Kubicka et al 1992;Hill 1995;Hallman et al 2001), the question of whether the proposed I/II and A/B subtypes also apply to female alcoholics remains largely unanswered. and Cloninger (1987) supposed female alcoholics to correspond to their milieu-limited type I alcoholism and, correspondingly, Bohman et al (1981) did not find type II alcoholism in a small number of female adoptees.…”

Changes in some personality traits after recovery from alcohol dependence/abuse, anxiety and depression—Results of a 5-year follow-up in a general population sample of women

“…In our study, impulsiveness and verbal aggression had increased in women who developed ADA during followup. Associations between impulsiveness and ADA and additional substance misuse have been reported in women (37), but to our knowledge, no studies have linked changes in impulsiveness to the development of ADA. Although we found an association between reduced anxiety and resolved ADA, there was no increase in anxiety associated with the development of ADA.…”

Personality and Work Life: A Comparison Between Hearing-Impaired Persons and a Normal-Hearing Population

“…Thus, it is extremely important to take this into account when it comes to understanding daily work interactions between the hearing-impaired individual, their colleagues and the work environment. High anxiety is strongly connected to lower psychosocial competency (e.g., af Klinteberg, 2000;af Klinteberg, et al, 1990;Hallman, Persson, & af Klinteberg, 2001;Schalling et al, 1987). Other personality aspects, such as extraversion, aggression, and conformity, did not differ between the hearing-impaired subjects and controls.…”