The Role of Personality Traits, Personality Functioning, Traumatic Life Events, and Emotion-Regulation Difficulties in Predicting Polysubstance Use

Polysubstance use as a severity index in individuals with substance abuse disorder is associated with various psychological, social, cultural, and genetic factors. This research aims to examine the predictive role of personality traits, personality functions, traumatic life events, and emotion-regulation difficulties in polysubstance use and the severity of dependence.

A total of 300 subjects (75.2% male) with the mean age of 40.07 years and standard deviation of 12.26 were chosen via the available sampling method. The subjects included individuals abusing one substance (30.6%), a group abusing multiple substances (37.5%), and a nonclinical group (31.7%). The participants completed the questionnaires of short-form personality inventory based on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, levels of personality functioning scale, dysfunctional emotion regulation scale, and life events checklist.

The results of ranked regression and structural equation modeling indicated that the variables of personality traits (2.69), emotional regulation strategies (2.04), personality functioning (1.17), and stressful factors (1.65) had a significant role in predicting drug abuse.

Personality affects all life dimensions. Emotion regulation strategies, by affecting maladaptive traits, especially negative affectivity and antagonism, as well as personality functions can predispose the person to polysubstance use.