The Relationship Of Personality Structure To Patterns Of Adolescent Substance Use.

The relationship of personality to patterns of adolescent substance use was examined in an effort to determine the extent to which these domains overlap. During the first year of a longitudinal study of adolescent drug use, self-report data were collected on personality and current use patterns of 13 substances. The data from the domains of drug use and personality were interrelated using canonical correlation analysis. Rotation of canonical variates and cross-validation were used in order to distinguish between statistically significant and theoretically meaningful results. The results revealed that a single dimension of general substance use was associated with a cluster of personality traits and attitudes. Although the overlap between the drug use and personality domains was moderately high, the ability of personality to account for variations in adolescent substance use was relatively low.