Drinking Among College Students & Personality Factors Related to Alcoholism

The relationship between the drinking patterns of college students and personality factors, which have previously been shown to different:late between alcoholic and non-alcoholic populations, was examined in this study. Subjects were categorized into six groups based on self-reports of the frequency and amount of alcohol consumption. The MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale and the 16PF personality test were administered to all subjects. Pearson Product-moment correlations were calculated to assess the relationship between levels of drinking and personality factors demonstrated by the subject population. It was found that the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale score was significantly correlated with drinking level among young adults. This suggests that the MacAndrew Scale is potentially useful as a predictor of alcohol abuse and the findings are consistent with previous research in the area. Seven Personality factors, measured by the 16PF, were found to be significantly related to the subjects\u27 drinking levels. However, These factors were inconsistent with factors which have previously been shown to differentiate alcoholics from normal populations. The personality characteristics, which the young-adult heavy drinker demonstrated on the 16PF, appear more closely related to the antisocial personality type than to the neurotic personality type, as previous research had indicated. Further research is needed, especially longtitudinal studies, to assess fully the effects of specific personality characteristics on the etiology of alcoholism