Alcohol use initiation is associated with changes in personality trait trajectories from early adolescence to young adulthood

Personality changes related to presence and treatment of substance use (disorders): a systematic review

Heavy substance use (SU) and substance use disorders (SUD) have complex etiologies and often severe consequences. Certain personality traits have been associated with an increased risk for SU(D), but far less is known about personality changes related to SU(D). This review aims to synthesize the existing literature on this research question. A systematic literature search was conducted from November 2022 to February 2023 in PubMed, EbscoHost, and Web of Science. Peer-reviewed original papers on SU(D)-related personality changes were included. Of 55 included studies, 38 were observational population-based studies and 17 were intervention studies. Overall, personality and SU measures, samples, study designs, and statistical approaches were highly heterogenous. In observational studies, higher SU was most consistently related to increases in impulsivity-related traits and (less so) neuroticism, while interventions in the context of SU(D) were mostly associated with increases in conscientiousness and self-efficacy and lasting decreases in neuroticism. Findings for traits related to extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness were mixed and depended on SU measure and age. Studies on bidirectional associations suggest that personality and SU(D) both influence each other over time. Due to their strong association with SU(D), impulsivity-related traits may be important target points for interventions. Future work may investigate the mechanisms underlying personality changes related to SU(D), distinguishing substance-specific effects from general SU(D)-related processes like withdrawal, craving, and loss of control. Furthermore, more research is needed to examine whether SU(D)-related personality changes vary by developmental stage and clinical features (e.g. initial use, onset, remission, and relapse).

Personality traits, alcohol use and problem drinking among undergraduates in southwest Nigeria

Problem drinking, which may be more prominent among young adults, is associated with mental and physical complications. The onset, use, and abuse of alcohol may be related to personality traits such as agreeableness, neuroticism and extraversion. This study aimed to examine the relationship between personality traits and alcohol use among undergraduates in southwest Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional study carried out among undergraduates in southwestern Nigeria. Four hundred and twelve (412) students were recruited using multi-stage random sampling from the total full-time student population. Each participant completed Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) and Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10). The result showed that the lifetime prevalence of alcohol use was 31.8% while 10.8% were involved in problem drinking. Also, there was an association between alcohol use, male gender and parental history of psychoactive substance use. Out of the 5 personality traits, the extraversion trait was higher among drinkers (P = 0.001) while agreeableness was significantly lower among drinkers (P = 0.033). Extraversion trait was significantly higher in respondents involved in problem drinking (P < 0.001). The predictors of problem drinking in this study were extraversion trait and male gender. The study suggests there are intervening factors mediating personality traits and problem drinking among undergraduates.

Trait self-control predicts drinking patterns during treatment for alcohol use disorder and recovery up to three years following treatment

To more fully understand recovery from alcohol use disorder, we must consider several ways in which reductions in drinking and improvements in psychosocial functioning may occur. Previous research has demonstrated various patterns of drinking and functioning during and after behavioral treatment for alcohol use disorder, including groups of individuals who consume alcohol at low-risk levels and those that report occasional heavy drinking yet good psychosocial functioning. This study aimed to identify whether trait self-control, which has previously been associated with alcohol treatment outcomes, was a predictor of drinking patterns during treatment as well as three years following treatment. Latent variable mixture modeling was used to identify seven classes of drinking patterns during treatment and four profiles of drinking and psychosocial function after treatment. We found that membership in the low-risk drinking class was predicted by greater trait self-control than several of the other classes, including the consistent abstinence class. Furthermore, we found that greater trait self-control predicted membership in two high-functioning recovery profiles at three years following treatment, including a high functioning occasional heavy drinking profile. These findings suggest that self-control is an important predictor of recovery, particularly for a non-abstinent recovery.

Changes in Externalizing Behaviors After Children First Have an Alcoholic Drink and First Drink Heavily

OBJECTIVE

Proximal changes in externalizing behaviors before and after children and early adolescents have their first alcoholic drink and first heavy drinking episode are examined using intergenerational, prospective data from the ongoing U.K. national Millennium Cohort Study (10,529 child-parent pairs followed over 35,406 occasions).

METHOD

We examined how within-person changes in externalizing behaviors (based on parental reports on the Strengths and Difficulties scale when children were modal ages 5, 7, 11, and 14 years) follow children's age at first alcoholic drink (AFD) and age at first heavy drinking (AFHD), based on confidential child self-reports at ages 11 and 14 years. Analyses controlled for child age, time-varying parent-level confounders (parental education and alcohol abstention), and time-stable selection factors.

RESULTS

Estimates from fixed-effects Poisson models revealed a 5% increase in the expected count of externalizing behaviors after children have their first alcoholic drink (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.05, 95% CI [1.03, 1.07]), and a 13% increase after first drinking heavily (IRR = 1.13, 95% CI [1.09, 1.18]), independent of key time-varying and all time-stable individual differences.

CONCLUSIONS

Early AFHD and unobserved time-stable selection factors partially explain relationships between early drinking and problem behaviors, but early AFD continues to be a significant predictor of externalizing behavior. Although prevention efforts should continue to discourage heavy drinking in childhood and early adolescence, the results suggest that both AFHD and AFD should be delayed.

Key personality traits and alcohol use disorder symptoms in first and second year college students: detangling antecedent from consequence

BACKGROUND

Studies have consistently shown that low constraint and high negative emotionality are associated with higher levels of alcohol use and greater alcohol related problems. Less research has examined associations between these traits and alcohol use disorder (AUD) from the first to second year of college, when alcohol use increases rapidly, or has evaluated gender differences in these associations.

METHODS

The longitudinal College Experiences Study (N = 209, 60% female, 90% white) was used to detangle antecedent vs. consequence between constraint, negative emotionality, and AUD symptoms using multiple methods (cross-lagged panel analysis, latent difference score approach).

RESULTS

Providing evidence for a scar/complication model, greater AUD symptoms in the first year of college was predictive of rank-order and correlated decreases in constraint in the second year, but only for males. Surprisingly, negative emotionality was not associated with AUD symptoms for either gender. Qualitative analyses show that the vast majority of those that met an AUD diagnosis (90%+) did not consider their drinking to be problematic.

CONCLUSION

Given the vast majority of college students with AUD do not perceive their drinking to be problematic, results support the potential of using personality-based risk prevention/intervention programs to target at-risk individuals for problematic drinking, rather than targeting problematic drinking alone.

Heavy, Problematic College Drinking Predicts Increases in Impulsivity

OBJECTIVE

Impulsigenic personality traits are among the many factors demonstrated to predict drinking behavior among late adolescents. The current study tested the opposite possibility, that during the emerging adulthood developmental period, problematic drinking behavior predicts increases in impulsigenic traits. This possibility is important because such traits increase risk for multiple forms of dysfunction.

METHOD

Using a prospective design, we studied the personality traits and drinking behavior of 458 traditional college freshmen over one year.

RESULTS

We found that drinking problems predicted increases in urgency (the tendency to act rashly when highly emotional), lack of planning (the tendency to act without forethought), and lack of perseverance (difficulty maintaining focus on a task).

CONCLUSIONS

Maladaptive personality change may be one mechanism that increases risk transdiagnostically for some individuals who drink problematically during college. Increases in impulsigenic traits predictable from problem drinking put individuals at risk for not only more drinking, but a host of other negative outcomes.

Applied Implications of Understanding the Natural Development of Effortful Control

Effortful control (EC) is an important target for many interventions intended to facilitate positive psychosocial outcomes. The first wave of these efforts have emphasized adult-to-child instruction and individualized practice at target skills. Future tests of these ideas will be facilitated by efforts to critically evaluate and improve the construct validity of EC measures. New avenues for these applied approaches will also grow out of a more complete understanding of the processes that govern EC development. Specifically, I argue that the natural development of EC includes important roles for contextual and peer relationship factors that have yet to be capitalized on in efforts to increase EC in children.

Heavy, Problematic College Drinking Predicts Increases in Impulsivity

OBJECTIVE

Impulsigenic personality traits are among the many factors demonstrated to predict drinking behavior among late adolescents. The current study tested the opposite possibility, that during the emerging adulthood developmental period, problematic drinking behavior predicts increases in impulsigenic traits. This possibility is important because such traits increase risk for multiple forms of dysfunction.

METHOD

Using a prospective design, we studied the personality traits and drinking behavior of 458 traditional college freshmen over one year.

RESULTS

We found that drinking problems predicted increases in urgency (the tendency to act rashly when highly emotional), lack of planning (the tendency to act without forethought), and lack of perseverance (difficulty maintaining focus on a task).

CONCLUSIONS

Maladaptive personality change may be one mechanism that increases risk transdiagnostically for some individuals who drink problematically during college. Increases in impulsigenic traits predictable from problem drinking put individuals at risk for not only more drinking, but a host of other negative outcomes.

Cloninger's Temperament Dimensions and Longitudinal Alcohol Use in Early Midlife: A Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 Study

BACKGROUND

Temperament is theorized to be an important factor contributing to the development of alcohol use disorder, but longitudinal studies on how temperament is related to alcohol use among general population in midlife are scarce. Our aims were to investigate potentially reciprocal associations between temperament and changes in alcohol use from age 31 to 46 using prospective birth cohort data.

METHOD

Within the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, alcohol use and temperament were studied at ages 31 and 46. Participants (N = 5,274) were classified into moderate users, abstainers and heavy users based on their mean alcohol use (g/d). Additionally, participants were categorized as steady users, reducers, or increasers. Multinomial regression analyses were conducted with Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) scores as factors influencing alcohol use using moderate and stable users as reference groups. Reciprocity of relations was assessed with cross-lagged structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

Temperament and alcohol use are rather stable in midlife. Novelty seeking (NS) predicted heavy use (OR = 1.4; CI: 1.3 to 1.6 for men, OR = 1.3; CI: 1.1 to 1.5 for women) and increasing use (OR = 1.2; CI: 1.1 to 1.4 for men, OR = 1.1; CI: 1.0 to 1.3 for women), whereas low NS predicted abstaining among women (OR = 0.7; CI: 0.6 to 0.8). High harm avoidance (HA) predicted abstaining (OR = 1.3; CI: 1.1 to 1.5) for men. Low persistence (P) among men predicted both abstaining (OR = 0.9; CI: 0.7 to 0.98) and heavy use (OR = 0.9; CI: 0.8 to 0.98). Among women, low reward dependence (RD) predicted heavy use (OR = 0.8; CI: 0.7 to 0.9). Among TCI scores, only NS predicted increasing use in the cross-lagged models.

CONCLUSIONS

Temperament has an impact on alcohol use in midlife. Of the TCI dimensions, only NS seems to predispose to increased alcohol use and problem use throughout life. Additionally, RD among women and P among men are significant factors from a life-course perspective. Our results did not support Cloninger's theory on type I alcoholism, as HA showed no relation to problematic alcohol use in midlife.

Alcohol use and personality change in middle and older adulthood: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study

OBJECTIVE

Personality is known to predict alcohol consumption, but how alcohol use is related to personality change is less clear, especially at older ages. The present study examined the effects of level of alcohol consumption and history of dependence on change in the Five-Factor Model personality traits in a national cohort of Americans aged over 50.

METHOD

Over 10,000 adults who participated in 2006-2008 waves of the Health and Retirement Study reported on personality and alcohol use and were followed over 4 years.

RESULTS

Latent difference score models indicated decreases in Extraversion to be attenuated for individuals categorized as light-to-moderate drinkers at baseline, whereas decreases in Conscientiousness were accentuated by having experienced alcohol dependence symptoms. Moreover, personality difference scores correlated with changes in the amount of alcohol consumed at follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that patterns of alcohol consumption are associated with changes in personality across the second half of the life span.

Codevelopment Between Key Personality Traits and Alcohol Use Disorder From Adolescence Through Young Adulthood

OBJECTIVE

Personality traits related to negative emotionality and low constraint are strong correlates of alcohol use disorder (AUD), but few studies have evaluated the prospective interplay between these traits and AUD symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood.

METHOD

The Minnesota Twin Family Study (N = 2,769) was used to examine the developmental interplay between AUD symptoms and three personality measures of constraint, negative emotionality, and aggressive undercontrol from ages 17 to 29.

RESULTS

Results from random-intercept, cross-lagged panel models showed that low constraint and aggressive undercontrol predicted subsequent rank-order increases in AUD symptoms from ages 17 to 24. AUD symptoms did not predict rank-order change in these traits from ages 17 to 24. There was support for both cross-effects from ages 24 to 29. Biometric analysis of the twin data showed genetic influences accounted for most of the phenotypic correlations over time.

CONCLUSION

Results are consistent with the notion that personality traits related to low constraint and aggressive undercontrol are important vulnerability/predisposition factors for the development of early adult AUD. In later young adulthood, there is more evidence for the simultaneous codevelopment of personality and AUD. Implications are addressed with attention to personality-based risk assessments and targeted AUD prevention approaches.

Childhood drinking and depressive symptom level predict harmful personality change

Personality traits in children predict numerous life outcomes. Although traits are generally stable, if there is personality change in youth, it could affect subsequent behavior in important ways. We found that the trait of urgency, the tendency to act impulsively when highly emotional, increases for some youth in early adolescence. This increase can be predicted from the behavior of young children: alcohol consumption and depressive symptom level in elementary school children (5th grade) predicted increases in urgency 18 months later. Urgency, in turn, predicted increases in a wide range of maladaptive behaviors another 30 months later, at the end of the first year of high school. The mechanism by which early drinking behavior and depressive symptoms predict personality is not yet clear and merits future research; notably, the findings are consistent with mechanisms proposed by personality change theory and urgency theory.