Traitedness, or the extent to which people fit the expected pattern of responses on an alcohol trait severity continuum, did not serve to identify (as was hypothesized) individuals for whom the trait might be more predictive of behavior. In particular, traitedness did not serve as a significant moderator variable in understanding external criteria including treatment response. It was anticipated that alcohol problems that appear to be occurring in a predictable sequence would be more consistently related to outcome than problems occurring out of sequence, with the latter perhaps related to situational rather than developmental factors. This null finding indicates that the manifestation of multiple problems tends to predict other life difficulties, regardless of whether they are observed in the specified ordering. It should be noted that previous research on the concept of traitedness as a moderator of the validity of psychological scales tends to yield mixed findings. Although some studies have demonstrated this effect (e.g., Baumeister & Tice, 1988; Britt, 1993; Robinson, Goetz, Wilkowski, & Hoffman, 2006), several others have reported small and inconsistent findings with regard to the moderation
