Ashish Sharma and Prem Lata Chawla
Vidyasagar Institute for Mental Health, Neuro and Allied Sciences, India
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Clin Psychiatry
Prominent substance use researchers have proposed that personality factors play a central role in the development of substance use disorder. The NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) strongly evaluates five super-ordinate personality domains which usefully summarize personality dispositions. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between personality factors and Alcohol Dependence by comparing the personality factors between alcohol dependent and nondependent individuals. We hypothesized that personality factors between alcohol dependent and nondependent individuals differ significantly. This study was conducted at an urban tertiary care centre in India. 60 Alcohol Dependence Syndrome (ADS) cases formed the case group which were compared to age, sex and education matched 60 healthy subjects. Data collection tools included SADQ, GHQ-12, NEO-FFI and CAGE questionnaire. SPSS-17 for windows was used for statistical analysis. Among cases majority were educated more than 15 years (71.7%), were unmarried (33%) at the time of study majority had severe alcohol dependence (58.3%). NEO-FFI showed that Non-Alcohol Dependence group scored significantly higher on Openness (p<0.05) and Conscientiousness (p<0.01) and significantly lower on Neuroticism (p<0.01) and Extraversion (p<0.01) domains. Thus alcohol dependent individuals differ in terms of personality traits based on Five Factor model of personality as compared to nondependent individuals with more Neuroticism, Extraversion and less Conscientiousness. This study establishes a relationship between personality factors and substance dependence; it helps in planning and designing the right intervention and preventive measures most suitable for the different personality traits and affecting the outcome of the treatment.