Personality Traits, Attachment Styles, and Their Association with Alcohol and Nicotine Use in College Undergraduates.

The present study was conducted to assess the personality predictors of alcohol and nicotine use styles among a group of college undergraduates. Data for this study came from a pre-existing database gathered by Dr. John R. Jacobs in 1996 from Northeastern State University. The sample consisted of 123 participants of whom 76% were female and with a mean age of 23. Participants answered questions concerning personality; attachment; relationship satisfaction; substance use; and demographic factors. Participants were broken into two alcohol use styles (light, heavy) and two nicotine use styles (smoker, non-smoker). Two stepwise discriminate analyses were used to examine factors that predicted membership into alcohol and nicotine use styles. Light drinkers were more agreeable and conscientiously less extraverted and fearfully attached than heavy drinkers. Three predictor variables successfully classified 65% of the grouped cases into a nicotine-use style. Non-smokers were more conscientious and preoccupied than smokers. Smokers were more dismissing than non-smokers. (Contains 49 references.) (Author/JDM)