The relationship of Kraepelian affective temperaments (as measured by TEMPS-I) to the tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ).

BACKGROUND: There is considerable uncertainty in the current literature about the relationship between personality dimensions and affective temperaments. METHOD: We compared-in a non-ill 14-26-year-old Italian student population of 1010-the affective temperaments of classic psychiatry conceived as subaffective traits [and measured through the Temperament Assessment of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-Interview Version (TEMPS-I) in the Akiskal and Mallya Operationalization] with Cloninger's revised Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) deriving from the experimental psychology tradition. RESULTS: The Depressive Temperament (DT) and Harm Avoidance (HA), loaded positively on the same canonical variate, whereas the hyperthymic (HT) strongly, and Novelty Seeking (NS) moderately, loaded negatively. In contrast, the Cyclothymic Temperament (CT) loaded highly positively on a second variate, on which both Novelty Seeking strongly and Harm Avoidance moderately loaded positively. Reward Dependence (RD), Persistence (P), and Irritable Temperament (IT) did not significantly relate to any temperamental and personality constructs. At a subdimensional level of TPQ 'shyness with strangers', 'stoic rigidity', 'detachment', 'fear of uncertainty', 'reflection', and 'anticipatory worry' correlated best with the DT. 'Gregariousness', 'exploratory excitability', 'uninhibited optimism', 'attachment', 'confidence', 'extravagance', 'independence', 'vigor', and 'impulsiveness' correlated best with HT. Lastly, 'anticipatory worry', 'disorderliness', 'sentimentality', and 'fatigability' correlated best with CT. CONCLUSIONS: The data provide concurrent validity to TEMPS-I and, as earlier suggested by Cloninger, indicate that (as expected) high HA and DT are related. High NS is both related to the HT and CT, and (somewhat unexpectedly), the CT is related to high HA. In a more theoretical vein, hyperthymic-novelty seeker can be predicted to be overrepresented among those with high achievement; on the other hand, a moody, restless disposition (a cyclothymic-harm avoidant type) may engage in outrageous behavior and be liable to negative affective arousal. We submit that these considerations could shed some light on the origin of socially adaptive behavior ('sunny' or sanguine types) on the one hand, and borderline conditions, anxious-hostile bipolarity ('dark' types) on the other.

Cancer risk among Swedish female alcoholics by age, birth cohort and severity of alcoholism.

We have previously reported increased risk for cancer in 15508 alcoholic women registered in the Swedish Temperance Boards compared with individually matched controls. Age at first registration was found for 14818 of these women. The women were divided into early and late alcoholic onset groups. Age 45 was used as an approximation for reproductive senescence. For subjects < 45 years at first registration with the Temperance Board we found an increased relative risk (RR) of 1.8 (95% CI 1.5-2.0), whereas for the older age at onset group we found an RR of 1.5 (95% CI 1.3-1.7). Early onset was associated with higher risk of cancer at all sites studied and in all age cohorts. We used the number of Temperance Board registrations as an index of severity of alcoholism; this measure was not associated with risk for cancer.

Swedish normative data on personality using the Temperament and Character Inventory.

The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is a self-report personality questionnaire based on Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality, which accounts for both normal and abnormal variation in the two major components of personality, temperament and character. Normative data for the Swedish TCI based on a representative Swedish sample of 1,300 adults are presented, and the psychometric properties of the questionnaire are discussed. The structure of the Swedish version replicates the American version well for the means, distribution of scores, and relationships within the between scales and subscales. Further, the Swedish inventory had a reliable factor structure and test-retest performance. The results of this study confirm the theory of temperament and character as a seven-factor model of personality.

Quantitative trait loci analysis of human event-related brain potentials: P3 voltage.

The P3 event-related brain potential (ERP) is a positive-going voltage change of scalp-recorded electroencephalographic activity that occurs between 300-500 ms after stimulus onset. It is elicited when a stimulus is perceived, memory operations are engaged, and attentional resources are allocated toward its processing. Because this ERP component reflects fundamental cognitive processing, it has found wide utility as an assessment of human mental function in basic and clinical studies. In particular, P3 attributes are heritable and have demonstrated considerable promise as a means to identify individuals at genetic risk for alcoholism. We have conducted a quantitative linkage analysis on a large sample from families with a high density of affected individuals. The analyses suggest that several regions of the human genome contain genetic loci related to the generation of the P3 component of the ERP, which are possible candidate loci underlying the functional organization of human neuroelectric activity.

Increased cancer risk among Swedish female alcoholics.

We evaluated site-specific cancer risks in alcoholic women. We identified 15,508 alcoholic women from the records of the Temperance Boards in Sweden and obtained a comparison group by selecting for each alcoholic woman one female individual matched for region and day of birth. We obtained incidence data from the Swedish Cancer Registry. We found an increased relative risk (RR) for any cancer [RR = 1.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.5-1.8]; site-specific risks were increased for tongue (RR = 8.5; 95% CI = 2.0-37), mouth (RR = 12; 95% CI = 1.6-92), tonsil (RR = 11; 95% CI = 1.4-85), hypopharynx (RR = 9.0; 95% CI = 1.1-71), larynx (RR = 7.0; 95% CI = 0.9-57), liver (RR = 4.6; 95% CI = 1.8-12), pancreas (RR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.6-4.6), lung (RR = 5.0; 95% CI = 3.3-7.5), breast (RR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.2-1.7), cervix uteri (RR = 3.9; 95% CI = 2.8-5.4), and vulva, vagina, and unspecified female genital organs (RR = 4.0; 95% CI = 1.3-12). We found a decreased risk for malignant melanoma of the skin (RR = 0.5; 95% CI = 0.3-1.0). Since this was a register study, the results may be confounded by differences in smoking, dietary habits, and/or other factors in the cohort of alcoholic women and the comparison group.

Alcoholism: lessons from population, family and adoption studies.

Recent population, family and adoption studies suggest that the susceptibility to alcoholism is a heterogenous phenomenon. Specific combinations of predisposing genetic factors and environmental stressors appear to interact before alcoholism develops. These studies indicate that the increasing use of alcohol markedly influence the observed inheritance of alcohol abuse. It is concluded that the problems of alcoholism is less a medical than a political problem.

The genetics of alcoholisms and related disorders.

The inheritance of alcohol abuse and other psychopathology in 862 men and 913 women adopted by non-relatives, was studied. Both male and female adoptees were at greater risk to develop alcohol abuse if their biological, but not their adoptive, parents were alcoholic. Three types of families with alcoholism were distinguished that differed in frequency of alcohol abuse, somatoform disorders in women and in relation to antisocial behaviour in male adoptees. The combination of both genetic and environmental risk factors was necessary for the development of alcoholism in the most common, milieu-limited type of alcoholism. In families with a less common, male-limited, type of vulnerability, alcohol abuse was highly heritable in men, but women had multiple somatic complaints and seldom abuse. In a third type of family the common vulnerability was expressed as antisocial behavior with violent criminality and recurrent alcohol abuse in males, but as high frequency somatization in female relatives.

Briquet's syndrome, hysterical personality, and the MMPI.

The authors compared the MMPI scores of 29 inpatients diagnosed by other authors as having hysterical personality and 21 outpatients diagnosed by the authors as having Briquet's syndrome. The two groups of patients differed significantly in age, on the MMPI lie scale, and on the MMPI hypochondriasis scale but not on any of the other MMPI scales. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for further defining the differences and similarities between hysterical personality and Briquet's syndrome.