July 21, 2015

"A five-factor approach to characterizing 'types of drunks.'"

A scholarly paper in Addiction Research & Theory, PDF, by Rachel Pearl Winograd, Douglas Steinley, and Kenneth Sher of the University of Missouri-Columbia:
Results from finite mixture model clustering revealed a four cluster solution. Cluster 1, ‘‘Hemingway,’’ was the largest and defined by intoxication-related decreases in Conscientiousness and Intellect that were below average; Cluster 2, ‘‘Mary Poppins,’’ was defined by being high in Agreeableness when sober, decreasing less than average in Conscientiousness and Intellect and increasing more than average in Extraversion when drunk; Cluster 3, ‘‘Mr. Hyde,’’ reported larger drunk decreases in Conscientiousness and Intellect and smaller increases in Extraversion; Cluster 4, ‘‘The Nutty Professor,’’ was defined by being low in Extraversion when sober, increasing more than average in Extraversion and decreasing less than average in Conscientiousness when drunk. Cluster membership was associated with experiencing more alcohol consequences. Cluster membership was associated with experiencing more alcohol consequences. These results support use of the FFM to characterize clinically meaningful subgroups of sober-to-drunk differences in trait expression
Via New York Magazine, which seems to be missing the point with the headline "Which Awful Type of Drunk Person Are You?" I don't think the types are awful, though it may be awful to be a drunk person, in which point it's more a problem of redundancy and bad word placement. Mary Poppins isn't awful. He's your best drunk. From the article:
The... cluster... labelled ‘‘Mary Poppins,’’... was composed of a small number of drinkers (approximately 14% of the sample) who are particularly Agreeable when sober (i.e. embodying traits of friendliness), and decrease less than average in Conscientiousness, Intellect, and Agreeableness when intoxicated.... The Mary Poppins group of drinkers essentially captures the sweet, responsible drinkers who experience fewer alcohol-related problems compared to those most affected.
Gives new meaning to the old line "I'm the Mary."

9 comments:

Bob R said...

So Mary is basically the same as Hemingway, but dances on the rooftops after having a couple. I'm not the Mary.

KLDAVIS said...

There was a time when you would have noticed 'Winograd' and the post would have been all about that...

mccullough said...

All happy drunks are alike. Every unhappy drunk is unhappy in his own way.

MadisonMan said...

I used to be a happy drunk. Now I'm the sleepy one. Age.

Bob Boyd said...

The Four Stages of Tequila

I'm rich.
I'm good-looking.
I'm bullet proof.
I'm invisible.

CatherineM said...

You're the Rhoda! You lost your virginity to your cousin Barry!

traditionalguy said...

Drink is a necessary social lubricant without which entertaining is actually impossible.

Which reminds me of Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf. Now that was entertainment.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Isn't the microaggression the macroissue here? I mean, the sweet lovable drunk category is given a woman's name, and two other gendered categories were both worse. Sexism, and I for one am deeply offended.

Anyway Slate warned us that Craft Brewing Has a Sexism Problem so microbrews are microaggresions, too.

Sam L. said...

I was expecting five clusters.

Bob, it's One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.

If Slate says it, I don't believe it.