Abstract

For several decades, there have been endeavors to search for and examine personality characteristics that predispose to a variety of addictive behaviors - addiction-prone personality. The purpose of this paper is to critically review and evaluate the research literature carried out thus far dealing with the addiction-prone personality. The definition of terms and the arguments for and against the addiction-prone personality together with their intellectual backgrounds are introduced. Comorbidity across addictions section discusses how and why the addiction occurs concurrently with another addiction and suggests possible hypotheses. Common personality characteristics that are frequently manifested in people who are addicted to substances/activities are discussed in next section. The following conclusions are drawn from the literature review. First, the trait of addiction-prone personality exists, which is characterized by its heterogeneity. Second, the trait negative emotionality or neuroticism characterizes almost all addictive and compulsive behaviors. Third, a multi-dimensional perspective is suggested in understanding this concept; each addiction or compulsive behavior can be placed onto different dimensions of certain personality traits.