Abstract

NUNES, Carlos Henrique Sancineto da Silva; NUNES, Maiana Farias Oliveira; CUNHA, Tatiana Freitas da  and  HUTZ, Claudio Simon. Chemical dependence and personality. Interam. j. psychol. [online]. 2009, vol.43, n.1, pp. 68-76. ISSN 0034-9690.

This study investigated the relationships between chemical dependency and personality structure in a Brazilian sample. Participants were college students (n=35) and patients of a drug recovery center (n= 48). Two personality scales based on the Big-5 Model were used to measure Extraversion and Agreeableness. A semi-structured interview was used to identify events in the patients' life histories that might support specific classifications. Participants' scores were also compared to Brazilian normative samples. The results showed significant differences between clinical and non-clinical groups in Agreeableness, but not in Extraversion. Logistic regression analyses were conducted using scales and interview aspects for predicting group membership. The model showed 92.1% general predictive power. Results pointed to the advantage of using both interview and objective techniques to assess individuals with antisocial personality symptoms.

Keywords : Chemical addiction; Drug use; Big five personality model; Psychological assessment.

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