title: The concept of temperament in psychoactive substance use among college students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Substance abuse is among the leading causes of preventable diseases and premature death but reasons and conditions leading to substance abuse are complex and multifaceted. Different models of abuse and dependence assume an underlying emotional vulnerability. Individual behavioral and emotional reactivity patterns of personality are considered in the concept of temperament but studies linking different types of temperament with substance use are rare.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study we investigated 1380 inhabitants (59.7% females; 40.3% males) of residential student homes in Austria, using Akiskals TEMPS-M auto-questionnaire. Further, we administered the CAGE- and the HSI-questionnaire and assessed other psychoactive substance use to examine associations between traits of temperament and substance abuse using ordered logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Temperaments follow different distributions in both genders: Women have higher scores on the depressive, cyclothymic, and anxious subscales and lower scores on the hyperthymic scale than men. The cyclothymic and particularly irritable temperament serve as predictors of self-reported nicotine dependence, alcohol abuse and cannabis use. Interestingly, the depressive temperament seems to be protective against self-reported cannabis use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Substance abuse assessment is based on self-reports only and urine drug and blood tests were not performed. Also, the history of substance abuse is not documented thus temperamental factors could have been influenced by substance abuse if the time of onset was in early adolescence. The study design was cross-sectional, thus limiting causal interpretations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It might be important to consider temperamental traits as protective- and risk factors in the etiology, prevention and therapy of substance abuse in future.
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Vienna, Department of Internal Medicine I, Austria.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Unseld
authors.forename: Giselle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dworschak
authors.forename: Ulrich S
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Plener
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erfurth
authors.forename: Henriette
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Otto-Michael
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Lesch
authors.forename: Nestor D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Kapusta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001317:Austria; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs