Personality and substance use disorders in young adults.
BACKGROUND
There have been no studies of the co-occurrence of personality and substance use disorders in young community-dwelling adults.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between DSM-IV personality disorders and substance use disorders in a large representative sample of young community-dwelling participants.


METHODS
Young Australian adults (n=1520, mean age=24.1 years) were interviewed to determine the prevalence of substance use disorders; 1145 also had an assessment for personality disorder.


RESULTS
The prevalence of personality disorder was 18.6% (95% CI 16.5-20.7). Personality disorder was associated with indices of social disadvantage and the likely presence of common mental disorders. Independent associations were found between cluster B personality disorders and substance use disorders. There was little evidence for strong confounding or mediating effects of these associations.


CONCLUSIONS
In young adults, there are independent associations between cluster B personality disorders and substance use disorders.
Health Services Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. paul.moran@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Paul
P
Moran
Carolyn
C
Coffey
Anthony
A
Mann
John B
JB
Carlin
George C
GC
Patton
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology