Alcoholic typologies. A review of empirical evaluations of common classification schemes.

This chapter reviews literature examining two typological classifications of alcoholism: typologies derived empirically by employing multivariate statistical techniques and typological classification schemes formulated from theoretical frameworks. Most of the empirical classifications were based on personality measures such as the MMPI, 16PF, and others. Examinations of theoretically based typologies included gender, psychopathology, and family history. The usefulness and limitations of these typological approaches are discussed.