Abstract

By exploring the influences of personality on drinking problems in general population, it was hoped that the present study could identify personality factors of drinking behavior and problems. Also the clusters of personality traits, which were composed of by Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) subscale scores, were compared by the degree of alcohol use and drinking problems. Helping to screen target person whom we must intervene first for alcohol prevention was first consideration of the study. Results through hierarchical multiple regression analyses were as follows. Personality was found to have significant influence on alcohol use and drinking problems. Both Novelty Seeking(NS) and Harm Avoidance(HA) were significant predictors of alcohol use and drinking problems. Even when alcohol use was controlled, these two dimensions had strong roles in explaining drinking problems. In other words, this fact suggests that personality directly affects on drinking problems without mediating factors such as alcohol use. Depending upon the clusters of personality traits, the degree of drinking and ensuing problems were different. Among the clusters of personality traits, passive-aggressive cluster was most prone to drinking problems, whereas hyperthymic cluster showed relatively less dangerous level in drinking problems. The overall findings suggested that for predicting the possible drinking problems of people, we should consider types of personality.