Medication overdose is a common method of non-fatal self-harm. Previous studies have established which mental health disorders are commonly associated with the behaviour (affective, substance use, anxiety and personality disorders) and which medications are most frequently implicated (benzodiazepines, antidepressants, antipsychotics and non-opioid…

The differing conclusions of researchers investigating personality factors in drug users are briefly reviewed. This study, particularly, examines the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles of self-reported college drug users with the intent of understanding their personalities. The specific research question was: what are the…

Describes issues and implications associated with personality conceptualizations of addictive behaviors. Directs attention toward characterizing the sociopolitical climate's effect on identification, evaluation, and management of substance abuse disorders. Explores alcohol and drug use in conceptual schemata encompassing multifactorial,…

The current study aimed to develop a measure for assessing the various motivations for sexual risk behavior (SRB) across commercial (involving the exchange of sex for money or drugs) and casual (nonregular) partners in a sample of inner-city, primarily African American drug users, and to examine the relationship of these motivations with a history…

The purpose of the present study, is to determine to what extent Change Seeker Index scores correlate with the reported incidence of specific behaviors judged by the authors to rank high in stimulation-seeking characteristics. (Author)

Although the personality correlates of heroin addiction, LSD use, and marijuana smoking have been frequently investigated, relatively few data are available to describe the personality or lifestyle variables correlated with the pattern of polydrug abuse. In an attempt to gather such information, 17 polydrug users, selected from a group of 224…

Inaccurate stereotyping by non-users was explanatory of the prevailing lack of agreement concerning the personality characteristics of heavy marijuana smokers. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to develop a psychometric evaluation technique which could be used to efficiently assess individual features of addiction treatment subjects which bear upon success of treatment. Previous administration of personality measures in two addiction treatment programs had revealed that successful and unsuccessful treatment…

This study was conducted to determine whether the characteristics correlated with drug use and nonuse among older adolescents would be true for younger people. A sample of 6,405 students, representing 89 percent of all pupils enrolled in grades 7-12 in a suburban school district, completed a classroom-administered questionnaire. The report deals…

This investigation examines the attitude-ambivalence measurement problem in the context of defining outcome criteria on which to measure the effects of aversive conditioning in alcoholism. (Author)

A random sample of university students was interviewed concerning illicit psychotropic drug use and administered the Personality Research Form. Univariate and multivariate analyses strongly supported the hypothesis that nonusers, moderate users, and heavy users of illicit drugs differ in personality characteristics. (Author)

Data from the California Psychological Inventory suggested that users were socially poised, open to experience, and concerned with the feelings of others. Conversely, they also seemed impulsive, pleasure seeking, and rebellious. Nonusers were responsible and rule abiding; however, they also tended to be inflexible, conventional, and narrow in…

Increasing frequency of marijuana use was found to be significantly related to increased creativity, adventuresomeness, internal sensation novelty seeking and impulsivity, and decreased authoritarianism. No differences were noted in manifest anxiety among user groups, but heavier marijuana users earned lower grades in school. (Author)

In this prison-based study four groups of youthful offenders differing in their use of marijuana are compared on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, California Psychological Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Beta. The data are compared with other investigators' data, and the implications are discussed. (Author)

The authors present a paradigm of external and internal thinking as these apply as causes for positive and negative emotional shifts. The concepts of internally and externally oriented thinking are discussed, and these are related to counseling the dependent drug user. Strategies for dealing with the dependent drug user are presented. (Author)