Adolescents who are highly extroverted have a higher risk of being heavy drinkers in adulthood, whereas those who are highly agreeable have a reduced risk of heavy drinking, according to a study published in Addictive Behaviors.
No personality traits prior to adolescence were found to be predictive of heavy drinking in adulthood, wrote Ingmar Franken, Ph.D., of Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Peter Prinzie, Ph.D., of Ghent University in Belgium.
“Although personality traits are more or less stable across the lifespan, there are effective interventions targeting personality traits that could be used as early alcohol interventions to prevent heavy drinking,” they wrote.
Franken and Prinzie made use of the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality, and Development to explore which “Big Five” personality traits—agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness—might predict heavy alcohol use. In the Flemish Study, children and their families were assessed at 10 different waves from early childhood through age 30. For this analysis, the researchers used data from six waves that spanned ages 6 to 19 (which included personality assessments) and 27 to 30 (which included assessments of alcohol consumption).
From ages 6 to 12, no personality traits predicted future alcohol consumption. However, in early, mid, and late adolescence, agreeableness and extroversion predicted heavy drinking—in opposite directions. Whereas higher levels of extroversion correlated with a higher frequency and quantity of drinking in adulthood, higher levels of agreeableness correlated with less heavy drinking in adulthood.
Franken and Prinzie noted that the link between extroversion and drinking is consistent with several theories of personality, while the protective role of agreeableness is less theoretically established. “Agreeableness is a prosocial trait and reflects an endorsement of social rules and social harmony … and it might be that agreeable individuals are more likely to imitate behaviors and form relationships with peers who engage in prosocial behaviors rather than substance use,” they wrote.
For related information, see the Psychiatric News articles “Easily Obtainable Demographic Data Said to Be Best Predictor of Teen Substance Use” and “Multipronged Interventions Needed for Collegiate AUD Risk.”
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