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The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjrl20

On the Question of PreExisting Personality Differences Between Users and Nonusers of Drugs a

Ivan Gulas & Francis W. King

a

a

Dartmouth College Health Service , USA Published online: 02 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Ivan Gulas & Francis W. King (1976) On the Question of Pre-Existing Personality Differences Between Users and Nonusers of Drugs, The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 92:1, 65-69, DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1976.9921335 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1976.9921335

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Published as a separate and in The /ournal of Psychology, 1976, 92, 65-69.

ON THE QUESTION OF PRE-EXISTING PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN USERS AND NONUSERS OF DRUGS* Dartmouth College Health Service

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IVAN GULAS~ AND FRANCISW. KING^

SUMMARY This study represents a beginning attempt to investigate the possible existence of predrug usage, personality differences between users and nonusers of drugs. Ss were male college students: 30 heavy marijuana (multiple drug) users, 30 light marijuana users, and 30 nonusers were compared on the results of the Gordon Personal Profile administered prior to the use of any drugs. Significant differences were found on two of the personality scales on this instrument. A. INTRODUCTION The continuing search for answers to questions concerning the effects of “street” drug usage-physical, personal, and social-assumes (as the professional literature amply documents) answers to major and prior questions inquiring about the possible differential characteristics of those who elect to use drugs and those who do not. Certain pre-existing social determinants (e. g., position in birth order, religion, etc.) may indeed be ascertained subsequent to the initiation of drug usage. However, the assessment of personality factors after the fact inevitably leads to speculative interpretation of empirical findings. The present study examined personality factors of users (and nonusers) before any of the Ss engaged in behavior that classified them as “users”.

B. PROCEDURE An extensive questionnaire3 regarding drug usage was mailed to each senior a t Dartmouth College. The questionnaire was completed and returned by 577

* Received in the Editorial Office on November 3, 1975, and published immediately at Provincetown, Massachusetts. Copyright by The Journal Press. 1 Now at Human Resource Institute, Boston, Massachusetts. 2 Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr. F. W. King at the address shown at the end of this article. 3 The questionnaire was originally distributed as part of another investigation, sponsored by the van Amerigan Foundation, Inc., and directed by C. M. Culver and F. W. King of the Dartmouth Medical School, Department of Psychiatry. 65

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JOURNAL O F PSYCHOLOGY

male students4 ( 7 3 % of the population surveyed). The returned forms were divided into three groups according to the following criteria: ( a ) nonusersstudents who reported no use of any of the drugs included on the survey instrument; ( b ) light marijuana-only users-respondents who had used manjuana for a total of no more than 20 times, who had smoked less than once a week in the three months prior to filling out the questionnaire, and who had not used any hallucinogens; (c) heavy marijuana users-those who had used marijuana for a total of more than 50 times (most had used the substance more than once a week in the previous three months) and were also experienced in the use of hallucinogens and other controlled drugs. Details of drug usage by the Ss are specified in Table 1. A research associate, not familiar with the design of this study, randomly selected 30 questionnaires from each of the groups described above. No Ss were included in the sample who had dated their initial use of any of the relevant drugs prior to matriculation at college. Fortunately, there were available for each of these college seniors the scores from the Gordon Personal Profile (GGP) taken during the orientation week at the beginning of his freshman year. The writers were, thus, able to investigate possible differences among the three groups-differences that could not (according to Ss’ self-reports) be attributed to the use of drugs.

C . RESULTS The personality variables measured by the GGP are Ascendency, Responsibility, Emotional Stability, and Sociability. Mean scores on each of these dimensions were plotted for each group of Ss (see Figure 1) . An analysis of the significance of the differences obtained among the three groups of Ss was performed by use of a t test for the significance of the difference between means. Heavy users scored significantly higher on the Ascendancy scale than did nonusers ( t = 1.98, p < .05). No other significant differences obtained among the remaining combinations of groups on this variable. On the Responsibility scale, nonusers scored significantly higher than both the marijuana-only Ss ( t = 2.46, p < .02) and the heavy users ( t = 3.1 1, p < .003). No significant difference was found between the marijuana-only group and the heavy or multiple drug group. On the remaining scales, Emotional Stability and Sociability, no significant differences were found among the three groups of Ss. 4 Questionnaires returned after the initiation of this study were not included in the pool from which the present sample was drawn.

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IVAN GULAS AND FRANCIS W. KING

TABLE 1

DRUGUSE DATA

Drug and amount

Marijuana-only users ( N = 30) N %

Heavy users ( N = 30)

N

%

30

100.0

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Frequency of marijuana use Total number of times 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-50 SO+

Use in last three months Daily 3-4 times per week 1-2 times per week 1 per week Drugs other than marijuana LSD Pep pills (to stay awake) Pep pills (for “kicks”) Barbiturates Mescaline Psilocybin DMTa a

14 10 6

46.6

33.3 20.0

30

100.0

6

20.0

1

3.O

4

13.0

6 12 8

20.0 40 .O 27.0

23

76.7 73.3

22

5 6

29 5 2

16.7 20.0

97.7 16.7 6.7

N,N-dimethyltryptamine.

D. DISCUSSION The most elementary, obvious, and yet possibly the most important finding here is that there are determinable personality differences between users and nonusers of marijuana and other drugs prior to the use of the substances. This finding has been the subject of likely speculations by authors whose determinations of personality assessments have been effected after their Ss were categorized upon the basis of their use (or nonuse) of drugs ( 2 , 3, 4 ) . The GPP is a brief, quickly administered instrument that does not enjoy the popularity of the Minnesota Multiphastic Personality Inventory (MMPI) or the California Personality Inventory (CPI) in either research or clinical practice. However, Gordon (1) reported evidence of some significant relationships between the GGP and the CPI. Selected, relevant relationships follow: (a) GGP Ascendancy is significantly related to CPI Self-Acceptance (.69), Social Presence (.49), Sociability (.67), Capacity for Status (.45), and Dominance (.68); and ( b ) GPP Responsibility is positively related to CPI Self-Control (.37) and Achievement via Conformance (.43), and negatively related to Flexibility (-.43).

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0 HEAVY USERS A MARIJUANA-ONLY USERS NONUSERS

I

WNDANCY RESPONSIBlLlTY

EMOTIONAL SOCIABILITY STAB1LlTY

GORDON PERSONAL PROFILE SCALES FIGURE 1 Percentile Rank Gordon Personal Profile Scores for Nonusers, Marijuana-Only, and Heavy Marijuana (Multiple Drug) Groups Obtained Prior to Initial Drug Use

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IVAN GULAS AND FRANCIS W. KING

69

Hence, the high Ascendancy scores for heavy drug users here are congruent with the findings of Hogan et al. ( 2 ) that marijuana users scored highest on Capacity for Status and Social Presence. Low Responsibility scores for the heavy users in this population are in futher congruence with the report by Hogan et aE. that marijuana users scored low on Achievement via Conformance and high on Flexibility. Such fragmentary findings do give rise to the hypothesis that the behavioral referents of these test measures may be relatively enduring ones and may persist independently of one’s use of at least some of the illegal and controlled drugs. Hogan et al. reported low Sociability scores for their marijuana users. This is somewhat inconsistent with the present findings in which heavy marijuana users (who were also multiple drug users) scored significantly higher on Ascendancy than did nonusers while the marijuana-only users scored above nonusers, but not at a conventionally acceptable level of significance. Perhaps, the difference in the two findings signals a drug effect.

REFERENCES GORDON,L. V. Manual for the Gordon Personal Profile (rev. ed.). New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963. 2. HOGAN, R., MANKIN,D., CONWAY, J., & Fox, S. Personality correlates of undergraduate marijuana use. J . Consult. & Clin. Psychol., 1970, 35, 58-63. 3. MCAREE, C. P., STEFFENEAGAN, R. A., & ZEEUTLIN, L. S. Personality factors in college drug users. Internat. 1. SOC.Psychitat., 1969, 15, 102-106. 4. SMART, R. G., & FEJER,D. Illicit LSD users: Their social backgrounds, drug use and psychopathology. J . H e d t h 6.SOC.Behav., 1969, 10,297-308. 1.

Dartmouth CoUege Health Service Dick H d ’ s House Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

On the question of pre-existing personality differences between users and nonusers of drugs.

This study represents a beginning attempt to investigate the possible existence of predrug usage, personality differences between users and nonusers o...
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