Personality profiles and frequent heavy drinking in young adulthood

• Published in: Personality and individual differences Vol. 80; pp. 18 - 21
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jieting, Bray, Bethany C., Zhang, Minqiang, Lanza, Stephanie T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2015
• Subjects: Big Five; Binge drinking; Latent profile analysis; Personality; Young adulthood; Binge drinking; Latent profile analysis; Big Five; Young adulthood; Personality; young adulthood; binge drinking; personality; big five; latent profile analysis
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2015.01.054

•Latent profile analysis was applied to identify young adults’ personality subgroups.•Reserved, Rigid, Confident, Ordinary and Resilient profiles were identified.•The percentage for each profiles were 6.9%, 9.5%, 28.5%, 45.1%, 10.1% respectively.•Reserved and Resilient profiles were at more risk of frequent heavy drinking.•Early alcohol use was also a significant predictor of frequent heavy drinking. Few studies examining the link between personality and alcohol use have adopted a comprehensive modeling framework to take into account individuals’ profiles across multiple personality traits. In this study, latent profile analysis (LPA) was applied to a national sample of young adults in the United States to identify subgroups defined by their profiles of mean scores on the Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness personality factors. Personality profiles were then used to predict heavy drinking. Five profiles were identified: Reserved, Rigid, Confident, Ordinary, and Resilient. Compared to individuals in the Ordinary profile, those with Reserved and Resilient profiles were at increased risk of frequent heavy drinking. These findings suggest which comprehensive personality profiles may place individuals at risk for problematic alcohol-related outcomes.