Because corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) plays a central role in stress regulation, the possible role of CRH1 polymorphism for anxiety-related personality variables such as harm avoidance possibly associated with alcoholism was studied. The research instruments used to phenotype patients were adopted partly from the US collaborative study of the genetics of alcoholism and include a number of personality inventories such as the temperament and character inventory (TCI). Based on the examination of 170 alcoholic subjects no association was found between CRH1 receptor haplotypes of four single nuclotid polymorphisms (SNPs) and low and high temperament traits of harm avoidance, novelty seeking and reward dependence. The possible implications of these findings are discussed.