Correlates of sensation seeking in alcoholics.

Alcoholics differentiated on the basis of their scores on the Sensation-Seeking Scale were found to differ markedly in their use of other psychoactive drugs, in the number and type of reinforcers given in the Reinforcer List, on some of their self-reported reasons for drinking, and in age. When subjects were classified on the basis of their MMPI profiles into subtypes, it was observed that there were differences in sensation seeking between different subtypes. The results suggest that sensation seeking may be a clinically important variable differentiating subgroups of alcoholics.