The relationship between personality traits and drug type among Substance Abuse

Abstract

Substance abuse is a serious global problem that is affected by multiple psychosocial factors, and personality traits play a central role in its occurrence. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between the five factors of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) and five categories of drugs (sedatives, opiates, stimulants, hallucinogens, and marijuana) among self-introduced addicts. The statistical population of the study was self-introduced addicts attending addiction treatment centers in Khorram Abad. The participants of the study included 100 addicts with drug abuse disorder who were selected by the classified sampling method underlining five classes of drugs (20 participants in each class) as the sampling strata. Data were gathered using the structured clinical interview of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders, NEO five-factor inventory-revised, and the structured demographic questionnaire. The results showed that high levels of neuroticism distinguish users of sedatives from those of other drugs. participants with high levels of openness to experience and low agreeableness and conscientiousness are consistently associated with the use of marijuana, hallucinogens, and stimulants. The results also demonstrated that addicts with high levels of extraversion and low levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness are consistently associated with the use of stimulants. The results of this research indicate that personality traits contain valuable information about the nature of personality traits affecting drug type in addicts. These findings are useful in drug abuse treatment and preventing drug abuse recurrence.