Initiation of Drug and Alcohol Use and Personality Development During Adolescence: initiation of substance use leads to changes in personality; cocaine and cigarettes were the substances that had the largest impact

Wright, Amanda J., and Joshua J. Jackson. 2020. “What Happens After Your First Time? Initiation of Drug and Alcohol Use and Personality Development During Adolescence.” PsyArXiv. July 18. doi:10.31234/osf.io/gpsj4

Abstract: Personality traits predict both the initiation and continued usage of alcohol and drugs. Less established is if substance use is associated with subsequent changes in personality, especially during the sensitive period of adolescence. We used three novel approaches to disentangle selection and socialization effects to address whether substance use is associated with personality development (impulsivity, sensation-seeking, depression, self-esteem). First, we used a multi-wave longitudinal sample of adolescents (N = 8,303) from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth - Child and Young Adult dataset to study the first use of a controlled substance. Second, we used propensity score weighting to equate users and abstainers on a range of background variables. Third, we investigated changes before, during, and after initiation of substances. Overall, there was unique variability and effects in personality across time for average levels, trajectories, and magnitudes of change both between users and abstainers as well as within users of specific substances. Results suggest that initiation of substance use leads to changes in personality; the specifics of which are largely contingent upon the substance being used. Impulsivity and sensation-seeking were the traits that changed the most while cocaine and cigarettes were the substances that had the largest impact.