Clinical and temperamental differences between early- and late-onset alcoholism in Korean men
Comprehensive Psychiatry Article in Press Online 20 August 2007

The aims of this study were to elucidate the clinical and temperamental differences between early- and late-onset alcoholism among Korean men and to ascertain the validity of Cloninger's typology model of alcoholism for Koreans.

Early-onset patients exhibited more criminality , suicide attempts and family history of alcoholism . With regard to the tridimensional personality questionnaire profile, the early-onset patients exhibited a higher score of novelty seeking, with the difference still being significant after adjusting for age by analysis of covariance (using age as a covariate) . However, harm avoidance reward dependence, and persistence did not differ between the 2 groups.

There were several distinct clinical and temperamental differences between early- and late-onset alcoholism among Korean male alcoholic patients. It is suggested that the age at the onset of alcoholism can be used to discriminate alcoholic subtypes. Our data also partly support Cloninger's typology of 2 types of alcoholic individuals.

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