Personality traits and recovery

Background: Individuals with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) tend to score high on Neuroticism and low on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness1. While personality traits are recognized as predictors of SUD recovery, most studies have limited follow-up periods (≥ one year)2. We investigated personality traits in a SUD cohort, and weather traits predict short- and long-term recovery. 
Methods: 123 poly-SUD patients in specialized addiction treatment in Norway filled out NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, predominantly three months after start of treatment. Yearly follow-ups included measures of drug- and alcohol use. Recovered versus relapsed participants at 1-year and at 6–8-year follow-ups was investigated with t-tests. Additional analysis was conducted with latent growth curve model.
Results: Participants scored high on Neuroticism and low on Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion and Openness3. Low Neuroticism and high Extraversion predicted short-term recovery category. No traits predicted long-term recovery category. Although not significant, the effect size for Conscientiousness (d = 0.31) on short-term recovery category, and Neuroticism (d = 0.36), Extraversion (d = 0.21) and Conscientiousness (d = 0.27) for long-term recovery category, indicated that these traits may have relevance for both long- and short-term recovery. The latent growth curve model indicated that these traits predicted the short-term use of drugs and long-term use of alcohol in this cohort dominated by patients suffering from severe poly-SUD4.
Conclusion: Patients differed on all five traits compared to the general population. Personality traits emerged as a predictor of short-term recovery, while a larger sample size is recommended to draw firm conclusions about long-term recovery.  
 
References:
1)      Kotov, R., Gamez, W., Schmidt, F., and Watson, D. (2010). Linking “big” personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: A meta-analysis. Psychol. Bull. 136, 768–821. doi: 10.1037/a0020327 
2)      Bucher, M. A., Suzuki, T., & Samuel, D. B. J. C. P. R. (2019). A meta-analytic review of personality traits and their associations with mental health treatment outcomes. 70, 51-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2019.04.002  
3)      Fodstad, E. C., Ushakova, A., Pallesen, S., Hagen, E., Erga, A. H., & Erevik, E. K. (2022). Personality and substance use disorder: Characteristics as measured by NEO-personality inventory–revised. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.982763  
4)      Fodstad, E.C., Erga, A.H., Pallesen, S., Ushakova, A. & Erevik, E.K. In review.