Self and Informant Reports of Personality Traits in a Middle-Aged Alcohol Dependent Woman

The present case report examines the relationship between self and informant reports of personality traits with alcohol dependence in a 54-year-old married woman from Bangalore. The tools administered were the Mini Neuropsychiatric Interview Schedule (MINI; Sheehan et al., 1998); Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT, Indian adaptation; Pal, Jena,&Yadav, 2004); and the NEO-Pl-R (Forms, Costa,& McCrae, 1992). All tools were administered in Kannada. The results revealed significant differences between the way the participant perceived herself and how the informant viewed her personality traits. Furthermore, the participant obtained high mean scores in neuroticism and was low in agreeableness, personality traits that are implicated in alcohol studies. The findings highlight the significance of examining alcohol use disorders among middle-aged women in India by incorporating multiple sources of information on personality that would facilitate clinicians in developing age and gender appropriate treatment decisions.