This study investigated four personality traits and their relationship to early adolescent substance use. Sixty high school freshman were administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent and the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory in a group setting. Anger, anxiety, cynicism, and social discomfort were hypothesized to be related to adolescent substance use, in that substance use becomes a coping mechanism for dealing with the pain of these variables in young adolescents who are lacking healthy coping mechanisms for stressful situations. Statistical procedures included two multiple regressions and a Pearsons correlation to look for remaining relationships. It was found that anger and anxiety are related to and predict substance use in adolescents. Social discomfort was not related to substance use, but was related to cynicism. Cynicism was related to substance use, yet not as strongly as anger and anxiety, and did not predict substance use in adolescents.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pacific.edu/oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-3433 |
| Date | 01 January 2001 |
| Creators | Schulte, Sandy Lee |
| Publisher | Scholarly Commons |
| Source Sets | University of the Pacific |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations |
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