Some Differences in Self Perceptions between Alcoholics and Non-Alcoholics

Abstract

An effort was made to extract some principles from the literature which described the model alcoholic personality. A sample of 100 items were selected, 25 of each from the four major categories of personality traits: (1) anger, hostility, handling of aggression, (2) effectiveness in social and personal interaction, (3) the handling of oral and dependency needs, and (4) the management of anxiety and depression. Q-sort deck was analyzed both for mean sortings for the significant groups and by means of interpersonal correlation matrices. It did not appear that the uniqueness of the alcoholic personality could be conspicuously delineated even with items which on the basis of theoretical formulation were heavily loaded with characters and qualities customarily assigned to the alcoholic. There was little evidence in the data as gathered to support the notion that there is a unique, special, or modal alcoholic personality which clearly differentiates him from other kinds of socially maladaptive or psychiatric maladaptive individuals. Specific factor characteristics within the alcoholic group were described. It is suggested that there may be two types of alcoholics in our sample of patients from a University-based Outpatient Mental Hygiene Clinic.