Personality, Environment, and Problem Drug Use

We tested a theoretical model that posited direct and Interactive relationships between personality and environment as predictive of problem drug use. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed on data from a nonclinical sample of males and females first tested in adolescence and followed into young adulthood. In main effects analyses, cross-sectional models for marijuana and a composite of “harder” drugs strongly supported our theoretical perspective: several environmental and personality variables significantly predicted concurrent problem use. Longitudinal analyses produced mixed results, with either smaller numbers of significant personality/environment predictors or personality predictors dropping out completely. Peer drug use and depression best predicted problem “hard” drug use, while motivations to use with others and disinhibition best predicted problem marijuana use. Personality/peer group interactions were significant both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, indicating that membership in a problem-using social network enhanced the predictive ability of, or helped bring to fruition, several personality predisposers.

[1]  P. Sutker,et al.  Issues in personality conceptualizations of addictive behaviors. , 1988, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[2]  T. Wills,et al.  Temperament and novelty seeking in adolescent substance use: convergence of dimensions of temperament with constructs from Cloninger's theory. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[3]  E. Khantzian,et al.  The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Addictive Disorders: Focus on Heroin and Cocaine Dependence , 1985 .

[4]  H. White,et al.  The drug‐crime nexus among adolescents and their peers , 1985 .

[5]  Delbert S. Elliott,et al.  Explaining Delinquency and Drug Use , 1985 .

[6]  K. Elifson,et al.  The Social Organization of Crack Cocaine Use: The Cycle in One Type of Base House , 1993 .

[7]  D. Kandel.  The Parental and Peer Contexts of Adolescent Deviance: An Algebra of Interpersonal Influences , 1996 .

[8]  H. White.  Longitudinal stability and dimensional structure of problem drinking in adolescence. , 1987, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[9]  E. Labouvie.  Personality and alcohol and marijuana use: patterns of convergence in young adulthood. , 1990, The International journal of the addictions.

[10]  R. Schlegel,et al.  Alcohol and drug use in young adults: Selected findings in a longitudinal study. , 1985 .

[11]  E. Labouvie,et al.  Maturing out of Substance Use: Selection and Self-Correction , 1996 .

[12]  S. Hansell,et al.  Predicting problem drinking: a test of an interactive social learning model. , 1997, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[13]  K. Merikangas,et al.  Substance abuse, comorbidity, and sensation seeking: gender differences. , 1996, Comprehensive psychiatry.

[14]  P. Bentler,et al.  Personality, problem drinking, and drunk driving: mediating, moderating, and direct-effect models. , 1991, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[15]  Scott Menard,et al.  Multiple Problem Youth: Delinquency, Substance Use, and Mental Health Problems , 1991 .

[16]  Ronald L. Akers,et al.  Adolescent marijuana use: A test of three theories of deviant behavior , 1985 .

[17]  R. Schwarzer,et al.  Psychosocial Correlates of Substance Use: Comparing High School Students with Incarcerated Offenders in Hong Kong , 1997, Journal of drug education.

[18]  G. Stoduto,et al.  The Construction of Risk and Protective Factor Indices for Adolescent Alcohol and other Drug Use , 1995 .

[19]  K. Bauman,et al.  On the importance of peer influence for adolescent drug use: commonly neglected considerations. , 1996, Addiction.

[20]  R. Pandina,et al.  Affectivity: A central mechanism in the development of drug dependence. , 1992 .

[21]  V. Johnson.  Adolescent alcohol and marijuana use: a longitudinal assessment of a social learning perspective. , 1988, The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse.

[22]  H. White,et al.  Potential Contributions of the Life Span Developmental Approach to the Study of Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use: The Rutgers Health and Human Development Project, a Working Model , 1984 .

[23]  L. Szalay,et al.  Social influences: effects of the social environment on the use of alcohol and other drugs. , 1996, Substance use & misuse.

[24]  M. Bates,et al.  Personality–environment constellations and alcohol use: A process-oriented study of intraindividual change during adolescence. , 1995 .

[25]  John K. Cochran,et al.  Sensation-Seeking and Delinquent Substance Use: An Extension of Learning Theory , 1995 .

[26]  E. Khantzian,et al.  The self-medication hypothesis of addictive disorders: focus on heroin and cocaine dependence. , 1985, The American journal of psychiatry.

[27]  S. Friedman,et al.  AIDS and needle sharing within the IV-drug use subculture. , 1986 .

[28]  David A. Belsley,et al.  Regression Analysis and its Application: A Data-Oriented Approach.@@@Applied Linear Regression.@@@Regression Diagnostics: Identifying Influential Data and Sources of Collinearity , 1981 .

[29]  J. Brook,et al.  Psychosocial risk factors in the transition from moderate to heavy use or abuse of drugs. , 1992 .

[30]  H. White,et al.  An application of three deviance theories to adolescent substance use. , 1986, The International journal of the addictions.

[31]  H. Trice.  ‘Alcoholism in America’ Revisited , 1984 .

[32]  C. Nagoshi,et al.  Impulsivity, sensation seeking, and behavioral and emotional responses to alcohol. , 1991, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[33]  L. E. Jones,et al.  Analysis of multiplicative combination rules when the causal variables are measured with error. , 1983 .

[34]  T. Toomey,et al.  Environmental Predictors of Drinking and Drinking-Related Problems in Young Adults , 1997, Journal of drug education.

[35]  P. Bentler,et al.  Substance use and ethnicity: differential impact of peer and adult models. , 1986, The Journal of psychology.

[36]  H. White.  Early Problem Behavior and Later Drug Problems , 1992 .

[37]  Ronald C. Kessler,et al.  Antecedents of adolescent initiation into stages of drug use: A developmental analysis , 1978, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[38]  R. Stephens.  The Sociocultural View of Heroin Use: Toward a Role-Theoretic Model , 1985 .

[39]  P. Bentler,et al.  Interactive and higher-order effects of social influences on drug use. , 1992, Journal of health and social behavior.

[40]  J. Brook,et al.  Dynamics of childhood and adolescent personality traits and adolescent drug use. , 1986 .

[41]  M. Farrell,et al.  Parental and peer influences on the onset of heavier drinking among adolescents. , 1998, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[42]  J. Brook,et al.  Young Adults' Drug Use: A 17-Year Longitudinal Inquiry of Antecedents , 1997, Psychological reports.

[43]  J. Brook,et al.  The psychosocial etiology of adolescent drug use: a family interactional approach. , 1990, Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs.

[44]  M. Bates,et al.  Familial Alcoholism and Personality‐Environment Fit , 1994, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[45]  M. Bates,et al.  Individual differences in the stability of personality needs: Relations to stress and substance use during adolescence , 1989 .

[46]  R. Zucker,et al.  Etiology of alcoholism reconsidered. The case for a biopsychosocial process. , 1986, The American psychologist.

[47]  J. Block,et al.  Adolescent drug use and psychological health. A longitudinal inquiry. , 1990, The American psychologist.

[48]  D. Clark,et al.  Alcohol consumption in university students: the role of reasons for drinking, coping strategies, expectancies, and personality traits. , 1998, Addictive behaviors.

[49]  G. Kearns,et al.  Drug User Networks, Coping Strategies, and HIV Prevention in the Community , 1995 .

[50]  M. Zuckerman.  Sensation Seeking : Beyond the Optimal Level of Arousal , 1979 .