Five-Factor Model personality profiles of drug users. Drug use is related to adverse health and social outcomes. Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable disability and death in the U.S. and around the world, increasing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory and other health problems. The use of other psychoactive substances, most of them illicit drugs, is also associated with massive social cost beyond the damage to the individual users, affecting health care, law enforcement, and legal systems. Personality traits are considered risk factors for drug use, and, in turn, the psychoactive substances impact individuals'traits. Furthermore, there is increasing interest in developing treatment approaches that match an individual's personality profile. To advance our knowledge of the role of individual differences in drug use, this study compares the personality profile of tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin users and non-users using the wide spectrum Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality in a diverse community sample. Participants (N = 1,102;mean age = 57) were part of the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) program in Baltimore, MD, USA. The sample was drawn from a community with a wide range of socio-economic conditions. Personality traits were assessed with the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), and psychoactive substance use was assessed with systematic interview. The results indicate that compared to never smokers, current cigarette smokers score lower on Conscientiousness and higher on Neuroticism. Similar, but more extreme, is the profile of cocaine/heroin users, which score very high on Neuroticism, especially Vulnerability, and very low on Conscientiousness, particularly Competence, Achievement-Striving, and Deliberation. By contrast, marijuana users score high on Openness to Experience, average on Neuroticism, but low on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. In conclusion, in addition to confirming high levels of negative affect and impulsive traits, this study highlights the links between drug use and low Conscientiousness. These links provide insight into the etiology of drug use and have implications for public health interventions. Indeed, although individual treatments might reduce the rate of drug abuse, public policy is an important tool for cigarette smoking and other drug abuse prevention and cessation. Because of the low conscientiousness, high impulsivity, and high emotional vulnerability of most drug users, relying on an individual's resources, without therapeutic intervention, may produce limited results. In the case of cigarette smoking, societal pressure in the form of high taxation, restriction in advertising, and interdiction of smoking in public places are cost-effective programs that are reducing the prevalence of smoking Self-Reported Extremely Adverse Life Events and Longitudinal Changes in Five-Factor Model Personality Traits in an Urban Sample There is growing evidence that long-standing environmental conditions such as relationship involvement, work experiences, or enrollment in psychotherapy may be linked to longitudinal trajectories of Five-Factor Model (FFM) personality traits. In contrast, research on personality changes in response to distinct life events is rare, the reported effects are only modest, and results are inconsistent across studies. The few studies that measured aspects of FFM personality traits before a traumatic event found that participants who show high baseline levels of neuroticism and possibly openness are more likely to show symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Moreover, those with higher neuroticism scores immediately after a traumatic experience are more likely to develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress later on. Unfortunately, none of these studies assessed personality traits both before and after the traumatic experience occurred. Thus, it is not clear to what extent the personality correlates of posttraumatic stress reflect preexisting personality versus event-related personality changes. This research examines the influence of recent and highly stressful life events on longitudinal change in FFM personality traits over an 8-year interval in an urban community sample (N = 458). Over a quarter of participants reported an extremely adverse event within two years preceding the follow-up personality measurement. To obtain a fine-grained assessment of personality changes, we assessed traits both at the level of the five higher-order factors and at the level of individual facets. Because personality stability differs across demographic groups we controlled for age, gender, ethnicity, and education. The experience of extremely adverse events is associated with a selective pattern of changes in personality traits. Compared to the rest of the sample, participants who reported a recent and extremely adverse life event showed increases in the tendency to experience negative affect (neuroticism), especially anger and frustration (N2: angry hostility). At the same time, they became less likely to cooperate and deescalate in situations of interpersonal conflict (A4: compliance). These effects are consistent with previous research, which suggests that stressful life events can take a toll on emotional well-being and interpersonal relationships. Importantly, our findings indicate that these effects can be strong enough to shiftat least temporarily selected aspects of an individuals core personality traits. In addition, participants who had experienced extreme events decreased on O6: openness to values, indicating an increased tendency to embrace authority, dogma, and tradition. These results are consistent with terror management theory, which predicts that increased salience of ones mortality leads people to reaffirm their cultural worldviews and reject alternative opinions. Five-factor Model personality traits and the retirement transition: Longitudinal and cross-sectional associations. Retirement is a major normative life transition which profoundly affects patterns of everyday activities and social network composition. Research on interindividual differences in retirement outcomes has focused on sociodemographic factors, physical health, and subjective well-being. In contrast, very few studies have examined the link between personality traits and retirement. The present study adds to the literature by examining personality as a predictor of retirement, patterns of longitudinal personality change associated with retirement, and personality correlates of retirement outcomes. We examined associations between five-factor personality traits and retirement in a diverse community sample. Longitudinal analyses (n=367) compared personality trajectories of participants who remained employed and participants who retired. Personality at baseline did not predict future retirement, but compared to participants who remained employed, retirees increased in Agreeableness and decreased in Activity, a facet of Extraversion. In cross-sectional analyses among retirees (n=144), those low in Neuroticism and high in Extraversion reported higher retirement satisfaction and those high in Extraversion reported higher post-retirement activity levels. Findings suggest that the trait perspective contributes to our understanding of the retirement process.
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