Personality traits and addiction relapse rates: is there a connection?

The purpose of this study was to examine what differences, if any, there were in personality trait levels of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness between addicts/ alcoholics who relapsed and those who remained abstinent. It was hypothesized that high levels of Neuroticism combined with low levels of Conscientiousness would be associated with relapsing addicts and low levels of Neuroticism combined with high levels of Conscientiousness would be associated with abstaining addicts. Fifty-one subjects participated in this study and their personality traits were measured with the NEO-FFI, a self-reporting personality questionnaire. Relapse and abstinence were observed over a three-month period. A one-way ANOVA showed significance between the personality traits and relapse. The results supported the hypothesis. The levels of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were significantly different between relapsing and abstaining addicts. Additional factors, including drug of choice, socio-economic background, employment, age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, length of time using, number of previous treatment attempts, and previous psychiatric history were studied for significance with relapse. Although many of these factors were significantly correlated with each other, only the length of time using and gender were significant with relapse