Young adults, age 18-30 years are in the highest risk group for developing substance use disorders (SUDs) and these disorders are associated with a myriad of negative consequences. Researchers in the field of psychology studying SUDs and personality variables have determined that specific personality traits tend to be associated with and affect the type and severity of SUD's. There appear to be 2 clusters of substance abusers: those high in Psychoticism or "P" traits such as impulsivity, sensation-seeking, disinhibition, anti-social behaviors and those high in Neuroticism or "N" traits such as internalizing, depressive tendencies, negative views and anxiety. The Addiction Prone Personality scale (APP) (Barnes et al., 2000) was developed as a measure of personality vulnerability to SUD's. Given that the APP is a relatively new scale and that the research is limited, further research investigating the scale's psychometric properties seems justified. The present study examined the construct validity of the APP with 5 sub-validity studies to examine internal consistency/reliability, factor validity, convergent validity, incremental validity, and criterion validity. This study employed a young adult population, ages 18-30, drawn from two samples: a college student sample and a clinical sample of DUI offenders referred for assessment and psycho-educational treatment. Results were mixed in that the APP demonstrated strong internal consistency with the clinical group, but weak internal consistency for the student and combined groups. The factor analysis of the APP revealed three underlying subscales which measure constructs consistent with previous research. However, there was no underlying unidimensional scale. Therefore the total score is impossible to interpret. Further, while the APP had moderate convergent validity with the SASSI-3, there was no significant incremental or discriminant validity with these samples using the SASSI-3. Given the limited psychometric properties, the results suggest that the APP in its present form would not be appropriate for use with individuals in predicting addiction proneness. The results are discussed in terms of previous research and recommendations for future research into the construct of addiction proneness are offered. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2011. / November 30, 2010. / addiction proneness, addictive personality, measur / Includes bibliographical references. / F. Donald Kelly, Professor Directing Thesis; James P. Sampson, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Elizabeth Goldsmith, University Representative; Gary W. Peterson, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_180353 |
| Contributors | Sage, Sandi (authoraut), Kelly, F. Donald (professor directing thesis), Sampson, James P. (professor co-directing thesis), Goldsmith, Elizabeth (university representative), Peterson, Gary W. (committee member), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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