Trajectories of alcohol and drug use and dependence from adolescence to adulthood: the effects of familial alcoholism and personality

This study describes trajectories of substance use and dependence from adolescence to adulthood. Identified consumption groups include heavy drinking/heavy drug use, moderate drinking/experimental drug use, and light drinking/rare drug use. Dependence groups include alcohol only, drug only, and comorbid groups. The heavy drinking/heavy drug use group was at risk for alcohol and drug dependence and persistent dependence and showed more familial alcoholism, negative emotionality, and low constraint. The moderate drinking/experimental drug use group was at risk for alcohol dependence but not comorbid or persistent dependence and showed less negative emotionality and higher constraint. Familial alcoholism raised risk for alcohol and drug use and dependence in part because children from alcoholic families were more impulsive and lower in agreeableness.     

The relationship between maladaptive personality functioning and problematic technology use in adolescence: A cluster analysis approach

In the last two decades, scientific research has explored the problematic use of internet, videogames and mobile phones. However, there is still little consistent knowledge regarding the co-occurrence of problematic technology use and the role of maladaptive personality characteristics in adolescence. The present study aimed to investigate adolescents' styles of technology use with a cluster analysis approach focusing on personality functioning. The sample comprised 408 Italian adolescents (46.3% males) aged 11 to 18 years (M _age = 13.80; SD = 2.08). Data were collected using the Internet Addiction Test, the Videogame Dependency Scale, the Test of Mobile-Phone Dependence Brief Form and the Personality Inventory for DSM5 Brief Form. Results provided a four-cluster solution based on the co-occurrence of problematic technology use. The four clusters were labeled as follows: cluster 1: “Above average internet and mobile-phone use”; cluster 2: “Below average technology use”; cluster 3: “Above average videogame use”; and cluster 4: “Problematic technology use.” Analyses on demographic variables (e.g., gender and age) demonstrated significant differences between the four groups. Adolescents with high levels of problematic technology use reported greater overall personality dysfunction than the other three groups. This finding supported our hypothesis on maladaptive personality functioning in adolescents at risk for addiction. Finally, the Antagonism domain played a specific role in differentiating the severity of adolescents' involvement in technology use. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings and to plan preventive interventions as well as therapeutic treatments.     

The relationship of parental drug use and parents' attitude concerning adolescent drug use to adolescent drug use

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of two variables, parental drug use and parental attitude toward adolescent drug use, both as perceived by the adolescent respondent to his or her own use or nonuse of drugs. A sample of 106 drug-using and 96 nondrug-using adolescents was obtained through the use of the anthropological " snowball " technique. All respondents were administered a drug use history profile and a personal data questionnaire. In order to be classed as drug users, respondents had to have been using two or more recreational substances on a regular basis. Nondrug users were those who used no recreational drugs, although individuals who had tried alcohol or tobacco experimentally were included in this group. On the personal data form, respondents were asked to describe their parents' use of alcohol, tobacco, or other substances, and to indicate their parents' attitudes concerning adolescent use of drugs. Parental attitudes were classed as permissive if the respondent indicated that parents were indifferent about drug use, if they accepted a certain range of drugs, or if the decision were left up to the youth. A nonpermissive attitude was defined as one which would not accept drug use by the adolescent. Four 2 x 2 Chi-square analyses were used to determine significance of the relationship between adolescent drug use and parents' use or nonuse of drugs, parents' attitudes about adolescent use or nonuse and actual adolescent use or non-use, and this same attitudinal relationship looking at parent users and nonusers separately.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Stability and change in temperament during adolescence

This study assessed genetic and environmental contributions to temperament during adolescence within the Nonshared Environment and Adolescent Development project (NEAD; D. Reiss, J. M. Neiderhiser, E. M. Hetherington, & R. Plomin, 2000). NEAD is a national study that includes twins and other sibling types who vary in regard to genetic relatedness. Seven hundred twenty sibling pairs (aged 12.1-13.5 years) participated at Time 1, and 395 sibling pairs (aged 14.7-16.2 years) participated again at Time 2. At both Times, mothers and fathers rated their children's temperament (emotionality, activity, sociability, and shyness). At Times 1 and 2, genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for variance in temperament, whereas shared environmental contributions were negligible. However, at Time 1, genetic contributions were inflated, and shared environmental contributions were masked if sibling contrast effects were not taken into account. At Time 2, sibling interaction effects had little impact on estimates of genetic and environmental contributions to temperament. Last, temperament stability was primarily explained by genetic factors, whereas both genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for change.     

Interpersonal violence and its relationship to some personality measures

One hundred and fifteen patients in a psychiatric hospital for criminal offenders volunteered to be tested with the overcontrolled hostility scale, the self focus sentence completion, and an emotional empathy measure. The subjects were divided into five groups on the basis of criminal offenses (murder, assault with a deadly weapon, rape, pedophilia, and nonviolent property offenses). It was also possible to divide the sample on the basis of diagnostic features (psychosis, personality disorder, and brain syndrome). The results failed to support the hypothesis that more violent (by nature of their offense) individuals would-as a group-score higher on the overcontrolled hostility scale than less aggressive counterparts. There was some evidence that psychotics showed more self focus at the expense of external focus. The empathy measure failed to reveal any meaningful differences. It is suggested that more validation data are called for to establish the generality of the overcontrolled hostility scale and that, in view of the therapeutic importance which empathy training may have for violent individuals, further effort should be expanded to find a generally valid empathy measure.     

The relationship of personality and behavioral development from adolescence to young adulthood and subsequent parenting behavior

The purpose of the study was to examine the association of parental personality, behavior, and substance use during adolescence and adulthood as related to the later parent-offspring relationship. The sample consisted of 297 parents (M age 32 yr.), who were first interviewed at earlier points in their lives in childhood and early adolescence at six points in time, extending from 1983 to 2002. Multiple regression models showed that parents with certain earlier personality and behavioral attributes, e.g., more rebelliousness and more frequent tobacco use, had a more difficult relationship with their children. Findings indicated an association between the cumulative number of psychosocial risk factors in the parents and difficulties in the parent-child relationship. The findings suggested that interventions designed to decrease youths' substance abuse may increase the likelihood that later when they are parents they will form nurturing relationships with their children.     

Developmental trajectories of marijuana use from adolescence to adulthood: personality and social role outcomes

Longitudinal trajectories of marijuana use from adolescence into adulthood were examined for adverse life-course outcomes among African-Americans and Puerto Ricans. Data for marijuana use were analyzed at four points in time and on participants' personality attributes, work functioning, and partner relations in adulthood using growth mixture modeling. Each of the three marijuana-use trajectory groups (maturing-out, late-onset, and chronic marijuana-users) had greater adverse life-course outcomes than a nonuse or low-use trajectory group. The chronic marijuana-use trajectory group was highly associated with criminal behavior and partners' marijuana use in adulthood. Treatment programs for marijuana use should also directly address common adverse life-course outcomes users may already be experiencing.     

The hardy personality and its relationship to extraversion and neuroticism

Hardiness is conceptualised as a personality characteristic which encompasses three component traits (commitment, challenge and control), and acts as a resistance resource mitigating the adverse effects of stressful life events (Kobasa, 1979). A number of empirical studies in the U.S. have demonstrated its role in moderating stress-illness relationships, but hardiness has not received much attention in the U.K. In the present article, data from a U.K. sample (N = 87) are used to examine (i) the psychometric characteristics of the current version of Kobasa's hardiness measure, and (ii) the relationships of hardiness, and its component scales, to the Eysenck dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism and the lie scale.Hardiness scores were found to be negatively related to age, but did not differ significantly between males and females, and were not influenced by social desirability biases. The alpha value for the reliability of the overall scale was 0.89. Scores on the components of commitment, challenge and control were strongly related to extraversion (positively) and to neuroticism (negatively), the canonical correlation being 0.60. Multiple regression analysis showed that age, gender and the Eysenck dimensions jointly accounted for 37% of the variance in hardiness scores. These results are discussed in relation to psychometric issues and relevant literature findings.     

The structure of self-reported aggression, drug use, and delinquent behaviors during early adolescence

Examined the structure of self-report scales designed to assess the frequency of adolescent problem behaviors. Urban (n = 988) and rural (n = 1,895) middle school students completed the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale (Farrell, Danish, & Howard, 1992a) and measures of other relevant constructs. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a model that included specific factors related to aggression, drug use, and delinquent behaviors, and a higher order problem behavior factor. Findings did not support a distinction between physical and nonphysical aggression. Results were generally consistent across settings (i.e., urban vs. rural) and gender. Other relevant constructs, including peer pressure for drug use and attitudes favoring aggression, had both specific associations with relevant first-order factors and more general associations with the second-order factor. These findings support the construction of separate scales assessing specific domains of problem behaviors in studies of adolescents' problem behaviors.     

Latent growth modeling of the relationship between depressive symptoms and substance use during adolescence.

To explicate the nature of the relationship between depressive symptoms and substance use, the authors conducted research that incorporated both individual and group approaches and utilized longitudinal data across development. Multiple-group latent growth curve models were used to assess specific dimensions (cross-sectional and longitudinal correlation, within-individual change, and movement off developmental trajectories) of the relationship between depressive symptoms and substance use during adolescence and how this relationship differs by gender. Annual survey data from 8th through 11th grade were provided by 441 girls and 510 boys in the Raising Healthy Children project (E. C. Brown, R. F. Catalano, C. B. Fleming, K. P. Haggerty, & R. D. Abbott, 2005). Levels of depressive symptoms and substance use in early adolescence were positively associated for alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use for girls, but only for marijuana use for boys. Individual changes in depressive symptoms and substance use across adolescence were positively associated for each type of substance use. Evidence was also found for positive association between episodic expressions of depressive symptoms and alcohol use that fell outside developmental trajectories. Predictive relationships across constructs were not found, with the exception of higher level of depressive symptoms in early adolescence predicting less increase in alcohol use.     

Stability and change in personality traits from late adolescence to early adulthood: a longitudinal twin study

We conducted a longitudinal-biometric study examining stability and change in personality from ages 17 to 24 in a community sample of male and female twins. Using Tellegen's (in press) Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), facets of Negative Emotionality (NEM) declined substantially at the mean and individual levels, whereas facets of Constraint (CON) increased over time. Furthermore, individuals in late adolescence who were lowest on NEM and highest on CON remained the most stable over time, whereas those exhibiting the inverse profile (higher NEM, lower CON) changed the most in a direction towards growth and maturity. Analyses of gender differences yielded greater mean-level increases over time for women as compared to men on facets of CON and greater mean-level increases for men than women on facets of Agentic Positive Emotionality (PEM). Biometric analyses revealed rank-order stability in personality to be largely genetic, with rank-order change mediated by both the nonshared environment (and error) as well as genes. Findings correspond with prior evidence of a normative trend toward growth and maturity in personality during emerging adulthood.     

The relationship of MMPI and Sensation Seeking Scales to adolescent drug use

This study examined the relationship of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) measures, including the MacAndrew alcoholism (MAC) scale, and the Sensation Seeking Scales (SSS) to adolescents' drug use across nine drug categories. Subjects were 51 male and 72 female high school students between the ages of 14 and 18 (mean age = 16 years, 5 months). The drug use/abuse measure consisted of adolescents' self-reports on the Segal (1973) Alcohol-Drug Use Research Survey. Drug categories included for investigation were alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, caffeine, cocaine, hallucinogens, marijuana, narcotics, and tobacco. Scores from standard MMPI scales, the MAC scale, and the SSS were examined in relation to individual drug use outcomes, and multivariate procedures were used to predict polydrug versus single drug use patterns. Results demonstrated significant and meaningful relationships between personality measures and drug use among adolescents, with consistently strong findings for the SSS.     

The dynamics of personality and identity in adolescence

The present paper summarizes some of the key findings on the dynamics of personality and identity in adolescence by the author's research group. With regard to personality, we found evidence for a maturation process in which girls were ahead of boys. Being ahead or lagging behind with regard to this maturation process was found to be associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, respectively. We further identified which specific traits were associated with problem behaviour, and showed that these associations are bidirectional. With regard to identity, we showed that short-term fluctuations affect subsequent levels of identity dimensions. In addition, we uncovered a commitment–reconsideration dynamic that operates on a day-to-day level.     

The relationship between positive parental involvement and identity achievement during adolescence

Parental support and provision of structure are linked to positive outcomes in adolescents, yet the influence of parental involvement on identity development during adolescence has not been clearly established. The present study examined the relationship between adolescent identity achievement and parental support, social monitoring, and school monitoring among 10th and 12th graders. It was hypothesized that parental support and monitoring would be associated with higher identity achievement. It was also our goal to clarify the relationship between gender and adolescent identity achievement. The girls in this study reported higher levels of each of the positive parental involvement factors than did boys, but there were no gender differences in identity achievement. Parental support and monitoring of social and school activities were significant predictors of identity achievement across age and gender. Results also suggested that the association between parental involvement and identity achievement differs by gender and it changes as a function of age.     

Spanish adaptation of Dickman's impulsivity inventory: its relationship to Eysenck's personality questionnaire

We used exploratory factor analysis to determine the factorial structure of the Spanish adaptation of Dickman's impulsivity inventory in a sample of 355 university students. Our results showed the two impulsivity factors, functional and dysfunctional, described by Dickman (1990). We applied consensus direct oblimin rotation to the Spanish, American and Dutch versions of the inventory and obtained a high congruence between the three factorial solutions which seems to suggest that they are quite stable across languages and populations. Both kinds of impulsivity showed relationships to the extraversion and psychoticism dimensions of the EPQ-R although extraversion was more related to functional impulsivity and psychoticism was more related to dysfunctional impulsivity.     

Impulsivity in borderline personality disorder: reward-based decision-making and its relationship to emotional distress

Impulsivity in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been defined as rapid and unplanned action. However, a preference for immediate gratification and discounting of delayed rewards might better account for the impulsive behaviors that appear to regulate emotional distress in BPD. To investigate this, a delay discounting task was administered to 30 outpatients diagnosed with BPD and 28 healthy community controls (all aged 15-24) before and after a mood induction. Trait impulsivity was measured with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. The results showed that the BPD group had a greater preference for immediate gratification and higher rate of discounting the delayed reward than the control group. Although the mood induction resulted in increased feelings of rejection and anger in all participants, and the rate of delay discounting changed significantly in the control group, the rate of discounting did not change for the BPD group. There was no evidence of rapid decision-making in the BPD group as response times were similar between the two groups during both trials. Finally, greater general impulsiveness and nonplanning impulsiveness were associated with greater rates of discounting in the BPD group. Together these findings suggest that BPD is characterized by a preference for immediate gratification and tendency to discount longer-term rewards. This characteristic appears to exist independent of feelings of rejection and anger, rather than being reactive to this, and to be related to trait impulsivity.     

Big Five personality development in adolescence and adulthood

The present article examines Big Five personality development across adolescence and middle adulthood. Two adolescents and their fathers and mothers from 285 Dutch families rated their own and their family members' personality. Using accelerated longitudinal growth curve analyses, mean level change in Big Five factors was estimated. For boys, Extraversion and Openness decreased and for girls, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness increased. Whereas mothers' Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness increased, fathers' Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability decreased. Differences in self‐ and other‐reported personality change were found, as well as interindividual differences in personality change. Results confirm that personality change is possible across the life course but these changes are not similar for all individuals and depend on the type of observer. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.