RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to compare the characteristics of demographic data, clinical features, and personality in male and female alcoholics and to identify the clinically meaningful differences in the etiologies and the clinical features between the two groups. METHODS: The study group was composed of 30 males and 21 females who were recruited into the inpatient treatment. The researchers used self-reporting questionnaire composed of demographic data and drinking patterns, Michigan alcoholism screening test(MAST), self-rating anxiety scale(SAS) and self-rating depression scale(SDS) of Zung, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory(MMPI), symptom Checklist-90-revision(SCL-90-R), and Eysenck personality questionnaire(EPQ) . The differences between the two groups were tested by chi-square test and independent-samples t-test. RESULTS: 1) Education level of female alcoholics was significantly less than that of male alcoholics(p<0.05) and the birth order of female alcoholics was significantly higher than that of male alcoholics(p<0.05). 2) The level of socioeconomic status of female alcoholics was significantly lower than that of male alcoholics(p<0.01). 3) The initial motivations of female alcoholics were mainly due to social, psychological, and intrafamilial problems while those of male alcoholics were due to social problems. There were significant differences between the two groups(p<0.05). 4) The onset of initial drinking in female alcoholics was significantly earlier than that of male alcoholics(p<0.001). 5) The average amount of daily drinking in female alcoholics was significantly less than that of male alcoholics(p<0.01). 6) Withdrawal symptoms, physical disorders, and social or legal problems induced by alcohol drinking in female alcoholics were significantly less than those of male alcoholics(p<0.05) 7) The mean scores of PY scale of SCL90R and of L scale of EPQ in female alcoholics were significantly higher than those of male alcoholics(p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Demographic and psychosocial factors differed to a significant degree between male and female alcoholism. We suggest that these factors are more important in female alcoholism than in male one in the etiologies and the clinical features. These differences are due to more complex factors rather than simple ones, thus the further evaluations are needed to elucidate the differences in the etiologies between male and female alcoholism.