BRIEF REPORTS Family History of Alcoholism and the Stability of Personality in Young Adulthood Jenny M. Larkins and Kenneth J. Sher University of Missouri—Columbia and the Midwest Alcoholism Research Center The authors examined the magnitude and durability of personality differences related to family history of alcoholism (FH) and the development of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in late adolescence and early adulthood. Data were taken from a longitudinal sample (N = 487; approximately half FH-positive [+]) who completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (H. J. Eysenck & S. B. G. Eysenck, 1975) at 3 points spanning 11 years (participants were 18 years old at baseline). Hierarchical linear analyses showed that FH+ participants had higher levels of neuroticism and psychoticism over the study period, independent of AUD. Despite relatively large mean decreases in neuroticism (as well as extraversion), the magnitude of the between-groups differences found at age 18 were maintained over the next decade. These changes thus reflect stable underlying differences in personality and not artifacts of higher rates of AUDs in FH+ individuals, recently living in an alcoholic home, vulnerability to the developmental challenge of leaving home, and/or a developmental lag. Keywords: family history of alcoholism, alcohol use disorder, personality, stability Individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) differ on certain personality traits from those who do not have alcohol problems, and certain personality traits appear to predict the later occurrence of AUDs prospectively (see Sher, Trull, Bartholow, & Vieth, 1999). Further, the behavior genetic literature on the relation between per- sonality and AUD indicates that much of this correlation is explain- able by reference to common genetic influences (Jang, Vernon, & Livesley, 2000; Slutske et al., 2002). In an effort to identify personality-related risk for alcoholism, numerous studies have com- pared the personality characteristics of individuals with a family history of alcoholism that is positive (FH+) and those with a FH that is negative (FH-) for alcoholism. In these studies, FH+ status has consistently predicted higher levels of behavioral undercontrol, neg- ative emotionality, and lower self-esteem, whereas FH-related per- sonality differences generally have not been found on levels of ex- traversion (see Sher, 1991; Sher et al., 1999). The Role of Development in the Relation Between Personality and FH The association between FH and personality must be interpreted within the context of the normative changes in personality that occur during adolescence and young adulthood (see R. W. Robins, Fraley, Roberts, & Trzesniewski, 2001). Most of the research on personality development during emerging adulthood (i.e., the late teens through the twenties but focusing on ages 18 –25 years; Arnett, 2000) suggests that this time is characterized by mean changes in many personality characteristics. These include a de- crease in behavioral undercontrol and increase in conscientious- ness and/or constraint (e.g., McCrae et al., 1999; McGue, Bacon, & Lykken, 1993; Roberts, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2001) as well as decreases in negative affectivity (McCrae et al., 1999; McGue et al., 1993; Roberts et al., 2001; Viken, Rose, Kaprio, & Koskenvuo, 1994 [in women only]; see Vaidya, Gray, Haig, & Watson, 2002, for an exception). However, research examining mean changes in Extraversion over time has produced less consistent results, with most studies suggesting that Extraversion is stable or increases during young adulthood (Roberts et al., 2001; Vaidya et al., 2002), but with others showing decreases in Extraversion (McCrae et al., 1999; Viken et al., 1994) or no mean-level changes (R. W. Robins et al., 2001). Although large normative changes in some person- ality traits occur during adolescence and young adulthood, note that high levels of rank– order stability can be observed regardless of mean-level changes (see Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000). The literature suggests that some FH-based personality differ- ences may be present early in life and decrease over time. FH+ children and younger adolescents have been found to have lower self-esteem than do FH– individuals (Bennett, Wolin, & Reiss, 1988), and school-age children of alcoholics have a more external locus of control than do children of nonalcoholics (Prewett, Spence, & Chaknis, 1981). However, these FH+/FH- differences have not been found in some studies of older adolescents and young adults (Callan & Jackson, 1986; Churchill, Broida, & Nicholson, 1990), suggesting that these differences may diminish with age. Jenny M. Larkins and Kenneth J. Sher, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri–Columbia and the Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Columbia, Missouri. This research was supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grants R37 AA7231, R01 AA13987, and T32 AA13526 to Kenneth J. Sher and P50 AA11998 to Andrew Heath, director of the Midwest Alcoholism Research Center. We thank Jennifer Krull for her assistance with the data analysis. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jenny M. Larkins, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, 210 McAlester Hall, Columbia, MO 65211. E-mail: jmlfca@mizzou.edu Psychology of Addictive Behaviors Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 20, No. 4, 471– 477 0893-164X/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0893-164X.20.4.471 471 This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.