Personality and Drinking Behavior in Alcohol Dependence: A Survival Analysis

Baseline levels of Five-Factor personality Neuroticism and Conscientiousness have been shown to predict clinician-assessed relapse in individuals with alcohol dependence, with high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness increasing risk for relapse. These findings were reexamined with a behaviorally based, temporally-precise outcome measure (first heavy drinking date after baseline) utilizing the drinking data of a diverse treatment sample of 364 alcohol-dependent individuals over 2-year follow-up. Survival analysis results failed to replicate Neuroticism and Conscientiousness as univariate predictors of drinking behavior over time but found support for the effect of Neuroticism in a multivariate model of clinical and demographic predictors. Other Five-Factor personality factors were tested in exploratory analyses. Implications of the findings are discussed.