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Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

The Role of Personality in Predicting Drug and Alcohol


Use Among Sexual Minorities
Nicholas A. Livingston, Kathryn M. Oost, Nicholas C. Heck, and Bryan N. Cochran
Online First Publication, October 27, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000034

CITATION
Livingston, N. A., Oost, K. M., Heck, N. C., & Cochran, B. N. (2014, October 27). The Role of
Personality in Predicting Drug and Alcohol Use Among Sexual Minorities. Psychology of
Addictive Behaviors. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000034
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors © 2014 American Psychological Association
2014, Vol. 28, No. 4, 000 0893-164X/14/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000034

BRIEF REPORT

The Role of Personality in Predicting Drug and Alcohol Use Among


Sexual Minorities

Nicholas A. Livingston and Kathryn M. Oost Nicholas C. Heck


University of Montana Marquette University
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

Bryan N. Cochran
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

University of Montana

Research consistently demonstrates that sexual minority status is associated with increased risk of
problematic substance use. Existing literature in this area has focused on group-specific minority stress
factors (e.g., victimization and internalized heterosexism). However, no known research has tested the
incremental validity of personality traits as predictors of substance use beyond identified group-specific
risk factors. A sample of 704 sexual minority adults was recruited nationally from lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, queer, and questioning community organizations and social networking Web sites and asked
to complete an online survey containing measures of personality, sexual minority stress, and substance
use. Hierarchical regression models were constructed to test the incremental predictive validity of
five-factor model personality traits over and above known sexual minority risk factors. Consistent with
hypotheses, extraversion and conscientiousness were associated with drug and alcohol use after account-
ing for minority stress factors, and all factors except agreeableness were associated with substance use
at the bivariate level of analysis. Future research should seek to better understand the role of normal
personality structures and processes conferring risk for substance use among sexual minorities.

Keywords: personality traits, LGBT, sexual minority stress, drug use, alcohol use

Sexual minority1 individuals are at elevated risk for experienc- matized, oppressed, discriminated against, or victimized on the
ing psychological distress (Cochran, Sullivan, & Mays, 2003), basis of one’s known or presumed sexual minority status, or as a
engaging in alcohol and illicit drug use (McCabe, Hughes, Bost- result of internalizing others’ heterosexist attitudes and beliefs
wick, West, & Boyd, 2009; Green & Feinstein, 2012; Marshal et (Meyer, 2003).
al., 2008), and meeting criteria for substance use disorders (Mc- Meyer’s (2003) minority stress model identifies both sexual
Cabe, West, Hughes, & Boyd, 2013) relative to heterosexual minority-specific proximal (i.e., internalized heterosexism and
people. This elevated risk is associated with higher concomitant identity concealment) and distal (i.e., victimization and discrimi-
rates of sexual minority stress (Meyer, 2003; Harper & Schneider, nation) stress factors shown to confer risk for psychological dis-
2003; DiPlacido, 1998; Hequembourg & Dearing, 2013), a term tress and substance use. More recently, Hatzenbuehler (2009)
referring to the psychological distress resulting from being stig- proposed a mediational component to Meyer’s model in order to
incorporate mechanistic psychological processes thought to under-
lie the minority stress-substance use association. Hatzenbuehler’s
contribution encouraged the integration of general psychological
processes (e.g., emotion dysregulation, rumination, hopelessness,
Nicholas A. Livingston and Kathryn M. Oost, Department of Psychol-
etc.) into the minority stress framework and, more broadly, the
ogy, University of Montana; Nicholas C. Heck, Department of Psychology,
study of sexual minority health.
Marquette University; Bryan N. Cochran, Department of Psychology,
University of Montana. Sexual minority health research, however, continues to empha-
Nicholas C. Heck’s contributions to the present investigation were size the role of minority-specific stressors at the expense of de-
supported in part by NIMH T32 MH078788 (PI: Brown) and by NIAID veloping a better understanding of the general psychological fac-
P30 AI042853 for the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research tors shown to mediate (Hatzenbuehler, 2009; Hatzenbuehler,
(PI: Carpenter). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and
the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect of the National
Institute of Health. 1
“Sexual minority” is operationalized in the current study as anyone
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nicholas who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual/pansexual, queer, questioning, or
A. Livingston, Department of Psychology, University of Montana, Skaggs heterosexual (regardless of gender identity) so long as the individual
Building Room 143, Missoula, MT 59812-1584. E-mail: nicholas reports a history of same-sex attraction or same-sex sexual behavior
.livingston@umontana.edu (LGBTQQ).

1
2 LIVINGSTON, OOST, HECK, AND COCHRAN

Nolen-Hoeksema, & Dovidio, 2009; Hatzenbuehler, Corbin, & Method


Fromme, 2011; McKirnan & Peterson, 1988) and potentially mod-
erate (e.g., hostility and neuroticism; Huebner, Nemeroff, & Davis,
Participants
2005) these associations. Although dozens of documented studies
support associations between five-factor model personality traits The sample included 730 sexual minority respondents who com-
and substance use in the general population (e.g., Kotov, Gamez, pleted a one-time online survey. Inclusion criteria specified anyone
Schmidt, & Watson, 2010), excitement/sensation seeking is the who (a) identified as a sexual minority (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual,
only personality factor associated with drug and alcohol use queer, questioning, or unsure) or identified as heterosexual with a
among sexual minorities (Trocki, Drabble, & Midanik, 2009). history of same-sex attraction or same-sex sexual behavior and (b)
were at least 18 years old. “Exclusively heterosexual” participants
The Role of Personality who denied any history of same-sex sexual behavior or attraction
were excluded from analyses (n ⫽ 18). Because recruitment targeted
The five-factor model represents the culmination of personality individuals residing in the United States, eight international partici-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

trait research. This framework offers a parsimonious personality pants were excluded from analyses.
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

trait taxonomy capable of describing both similarities and individ- The analytic sample (N ⫽ 704) included 238 male, 324 female,
ual differences using five broad personality factors: neuroticism, 63 transgender, and 79 other-identified (i.e., intersex [n ⫽ 2],
extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to gender queer [n ⫽ 52], unspecified [n ⫽ 25]) sexual minorities
experience (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Neuroticism is a measure of between ages 18 and 91 (M ⫽ 29.76, SD ⫽ 13.64). Additionally,
emotional stability/lability (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Higher neu- 205 respondents identified as gay, 158 as lesbian, 170 as bisexual/
roticism scores are associated with more transient and extreme pansexual, and 171 as “other” (i.e., heterosexual [n ⫽ 17], queer
mood states, elevated risk for experiencing psychological distress [n ⫽ 106], questioning [n ⫽ 9], and unspecified [n ⫽ 39]). Ethnic
(Costa & McCrae, 1992; Griffith et al., 2009), and problematic minorities comprised 11.4% of the sample, which included African
substance use both directly (Kotov et al., 2010) and indirectly American (n ⫽ 12), Asian (n ⫽ 11), Hispanic (n ⫽ 22), Native
through coping motives (Kuntsche, Knibbe, Gmel, & Engels, American/Alaskan Native (n ⫽ 7), and “other” (i.e., “mixed,”
2006; Theakston, Stewart, Dawson, Knowlden-Loewen, & Leh- biracial; n ⫽ 28) respondents from each state except Alaska.
man, 2004). At low levels, extraversion—a measure of sociability,
positive emotions, and excitement seeking (Costa & McCrae,
Procedure
1992)— characterizes those with current substance use disorders
(Kotov et al., 2010). However, certain facets, such as excitement/ Data were collected between March and December 2013; the
sensation seeking and sociability (via social networks), are posi- Institutional Review Board at the University of Montana approved
tively correlated with substance use (Walton & Roberts, 2004; the study procedures. Given previous concerns about biased sam-
Hittner & Swickert, 2006). Higher conscientiousness suggests pling (e.g., bars; Haldeman, Pantalone, & Martell, 2007), recruit-
greater self-discipline, reliability, and achievement orientation. ment efforts focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer,
Conscientious people generally engage in more health promoting and questioning (LGBTQQ) community organizations; Parents,
behaviors, fewer risky behaviors (Bogg & Roberts, 2004), and tend Friends, and Family of Lesbians and Gays groups; college cam-
to be more invested in work, family, and prosocial activities puses; and social networking Web sites (i.e., Facebook) in order to
(Lodi-Smith & Roberts, 2007)—activities that discourage prob- collect a more representative sexual minority-based sample. The
lematic drug or alcohol use. Predictably, conscientiousness is online recruitment message asked for help with an “online survey
inversely related to substance use (Kotov et al., 2010; Ruiz, Pin- designed to answer some important questions regarding the LG-
cus, & Dickinson, 2003). Agreeable people tend to be pleasant, BTQQ experience,” outlined inclusion criteria and incentives for
social, warm, sympathetic, and easy-going (Costa & McCrae, participating (raffle to win one of 10 $20 gift cards), and provided
1992, 1995). Like conscientiousness, agreeableness shares an in- a link to the survey (programmed using Lime Survey).
verse relationship with substance use (Kotov et al., 2010; Ruiz et
al., 2003). Openness to experiences is conceptualized as a measure
Measures
of curiosity and openness to novel, cultural, and intellectual pur-
suits (Costa & McCrae, 1992, 1995). Data on the association Demographics. Participants responded to a set of standard
between openness to experience and substance use have been demographic questions including age, sexual identity, gender iden-
inconsistent (Kotov et al., 2010). Mixed results might suggest that tity, and ethnicity. Sexual orientation was assessed categorically
openness to experience is a poor predictor of substance use (when by asking respondents to report their sexual identity, and contin-
drug and alcohol use measures are combined), or that the relation- uously on a scale from 1 (exclusively heterosexual) to 7 (exclu-
ship is more complex. sively homosexual). Respondents also reported whether they had a
In the current study, we hypothesized that combined personality history of same-sex sexual behavior or attraction.
trait effects would significantly predict alcohol and illicit drug use Personality. The Big Five Inventory (is a 44-item five-factor
over and above minority stress factors. Specifically, we expected model self-report questionnaire with item responses ranging from
that neuroticism and extraversion would be positively related, 1 (disagree strongly) to 5 (agree strongly; John & Srivastava,
while consciousness and agreeableness would share inverse asso- 1999). Trait scores for neuroticism (“gets nervous easily”), extra-
ciations with drug and alcohol use. If significantly related, open- version (“is outgoing, sociable”), agreeableness (“has a forgiving
ness to experience was considered more likely to share a positive nature”), conscientiousness (“can be somewhat careless”), and
relationship with drug use than alcohol use. openness to experience (“has an active imagination”) were derived
SEXUAL MINORITIES, PERSONALITY, SUBSTANCE USE 3

by combining survey items (eight to 10 items each). Internal dict DAST-10 and AUDIT scores separately. Block 1 of the model
consistencies (Cronbach’s alpha) for neuroticism, extraversion, included age, gender (representing four gender groups with three
openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and the dummy coded variables [female reference]: male, transgender, and
full scale were .87, .90, .79, .78, .84, and .74, respectively. “other”), and ethnicity (White ⫽ 1, ethnic minority ⫽ 0) to
Substance use. The 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identifi- account for demographic variables related to substance use. In
cation Test (AUDIT) was used to measure alcohol use and use- Block 2, discrimination, victimization, internalized heterosexism,
related problems (Saunders, Aasland, Babor, de la Fuente, & expectations of rejection, and concealment were entered to account
Grant, 1993). The AUDIT offers a five-item response set (between for sexual minority stress. Block 3 included each five-factor model
0 and 4); higher scores indicate greater use (␣ ⫽ .82). The Drug trait.
Abuse Screening Test–10 (DAST-10; Skinner & Goldberg, 1986)
is specific to the measurement any illegal drug use or illicit use of Results
prescription medication and offers dichotomous yes/no (coded as 1
and 0, respectively) response options. Total scores range from 0 to Within range of previous population-based estimates (see Ritter,
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

10, with increasing scores indicating greater use (␣ ⫽ .75). Matthew-Simmons, & Carragher, 2012), 92.3% reported lifetime
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

Sexual minority stress. Discrimination was measured using a use of alcohol, 60.2% reported lifetime use of illicit drugs, and
sexual minority-specific version of the Schedule for Heterosexist 59.7% reported alcohol and drug use; 7.4% reported never trying
Events (Selvidge, 2000; ␣ ⫽ .93). Item responses ranged from 1 either drugs or alcohol. Bivariate correlations between each trait
(never) to 5 (very often), with higher scores indicating greater and alcohol use indicate that neuroticism and extraversion are
frequency of discrimination. Our 10-item victimization measure positively associated, while conscientiousness is inversely associ-
(Herek & Berrill, 1992; ␣ ⫽ .85) inquired about the number of ated with alcohol use (see Table 1). Interestingly, openness was
times respondents experienced any of the items listed (e.g., In your associated with drug but not alcohol use. Neuroticism was not a
lifetime have you . . . “been threatened with physical violence?”), significant predictor of drug use at the p ⬍ .05 level. These
perpetrated by others who knew or presumed them to be a sexual associations illustrate the relevance of personality trait consider-
minority. Item responses ranged from 1 (once) to 5 (more than 20 ation when it comes to understanding substance use and suggest
times). Internalized heterosexism was measured using a five-item that certain traits might be more characteristic of specific use
Internalized Homophobia Scale (e.g., “If someone offered me the patterns.
chance to be completely heterosexual, I would accept the chance”;
Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 2009; ␣ ⫽ .76). Response options ranged Alcohol Use
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); higher scores
The overall model was statistically significant and accounted for
indicating increasingly negative self-views. Concealment was cal-
10.8% of the variance regarding alcohol use (see Table 2). The
culated by reverse scoring items from the 11-item Outness Inven-
hypothesis that personality traits would predict alcohol use beyond
tory, which measures the extent to which respondents are out to
sexual minority stress was supported, ⌬R2 ⫽ .031, ⌬F(5, 610) ⫽
their family, religion, and the world regarding their sexual orien-
4.27, p ⫽ .001. Beyond significant effects for age, victimization,
tation (Mohr & Fassinger, 2000; ␣ ⫽ .90). Higher scores indicate
and internalized heterosexism, extraversion and conscientiousness
greater concealment. Expectations of rejection (i.e., anticipated
remained significant in the hypothesized direction.
rejection on the basis of one’s sexual identity) were measured on
a 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) scale using Herek and
Glunt’s (1995) seven-item Perceptions of Local Stigma Question- Drug Use
naire (␣ ⫽ .93). Items on this measure assess the degree to which The model used to predict drug use was significant overall and
respondents feel that people from their geographic region would accounted for 9.4% of the variance (see Table 3). Personality vari-
willingly trust, hire, or accept sexual minority individuals (e.g., as ables were again significant beyond sexual minority stress, ⌬R2 ⫽
close friends). .037, ⌬F(5, 597) ⫽ 4.92, p ⬍ .001. Young age, male, transgender
identification, and victimization each predicted drug use. Extraversion
Analytic Approach and conscientiousness remained significant in the hypothesized direc-
tion after accounting for measured covariates.
Missing cases were omitted listwise. Variables were computed
if participants completed at least 80% of any particular measure.
Participants with zero lifetime drug and/or alcohol use were as-
Table 1
signed the lowest possible scores on substance use measures.
Pearson’s R Correlation Table
Dependent variable data were logarithmically transformed, base
10, to reduce skewness and satisfy linearity assumptions. All FFM factors AUDIT DAST-10
analyses were carried out using SPSS Version 21.0 (IBM SPSS
Statistics for Windows, 2013). Neuroticism .085ⴱ .070†
Extraversion .094ⴱ .119ⴱⴱ
Agreeableness ⫺.067 ⫺.009
Analytic Strategy Conscientiousness ⫺.121ⴱⴱ ⫺.140ⴱⴱⴱ
Openness to experience .003 .092ⴱ
After applying an a priori Bonferroni correction to account for Note. FFM ⫽ five-factor model; AUDIT ⫽ Alcohol Use Disorders
the likely correlation between our dependent variables (p ⫽ .025), Identification Test; DAST-10 ⫽ Drug Abuse Screening Test⫺10.

hierarchical regression models were constructed and used to pre- p ⬍ .10. ⴱ p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱ p ⬍ .01. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001.
4 LIVINGSTON, OOST, HECK, AND COCHRAN

Table 2
Hierarchical Regression Predicting Alcohol Use (AUDIT) (n ⫽ 626)

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3


Predictor variables b b b [95% CI] ␤

Demographics
Age ⫺.001ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.001ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.001ⴱⴱⴱ [⫺.002, ⫺.001] ⫺.165ⴱⴱⴱ
Ethnicity ⫺.008 ⫺.008 ⫺.012 [⫺.036, .011] ⫺.040
Male .013 .005 .011 [⫺.007, .029] .053
Transgender ⫺.005 ⫺.018 ⫺.020 [⫺.049, .010] ⫺.054
Other gender .009 .001 ⫺.002 [⫺.030, .027] ⫺.004
Minority stress
Victimization .028ⴱⴱⴱ .026ⴱⴱ [.011, .040] .176ⴱⴱ
Discrimination ⫺.003 ⫺.002 [⫺.016, .012] ⫺.016
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Internalized heterosexism .012ⴱ .013ⴱ [.003, .023] .106ⴱ


This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

Expectation of rejection .000 .001 [⫺.007, .008] .006


Concealment ⫺.008ⴱ ⫺.006† [⫺.012, .001] ⫺.081†
FFM factors
Neuroticism .007 [⫺.003, .018] .064
Extraversion .017ⴱⴱⴱ [.008, .026] .161ⴱⴱⴱ
Agreeableness ⫺.002 [⫺.016, .011] ⫺.015
Conscientiousness ⫺.016ⴱ [⫺.028, ⫺.004] ⫺.110ⴱ
Openness to experience ⫺.007 [⫺.021, .007] ⫺.040
Model summary
⌬R2 .027ⴱⴱ .050ⴱⴱⴱ .031ⴱⴱ
⌬F 3.411ⴱⴱ 6.652ⴱⴱⴱ 4.272ⴱⴱ
Note. CI ⫽ confidence interval. “Female and “White” categories, each coded as 0, served as references.

p ⬍ .10. ⴱ p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱ p ⬍ .01. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001.

Discussion with findings documenting associations between personality traits


Sexual minority health research demonstrates consistent links and substance use in the general population. The current investi-
between minority stress and substance use behaviors (McCabe et gation demonstrates that personality traits can contribute meaning-
al., 2009; Green & Feinstein, 2012; Marshal et al., 2008; McCabe ful information to minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003), and the
et al., 2013). Meanwhile, the broader literature base is saturated field sexual minority health more broadly. As hypothesized, per-

Table 3
Hierarchical Regression Predicting Drug Use (DAST-10) (n ⫽ 613)

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3


Predictor variables b b b [95% CI] ␤

Demographics
Age .000† .000ⴱ .000ⴱ [⫺.001, .000] ⫺.092ⴱ
Ethnicity ⫺.001 .000 ⫺.002 [⫺.014, .009] ⫺.017
Male ⫺.009ⴱ ⫺.012ⴱⴱ .011ⴱⴱ [⫺.019, .003] .017ⴱⴱ
Transgender ⫺.010 ⫺.015ⴱ ⫺.017ⴱ [⫺.031, .004] ⫺.104ⴱ
Other gender ⫺.002 ⫺.006 ⫺.009 [⫺.023, .004] ⫺.056
Minority stress
Victimization .012ⴱⴱ .011ⴱⴱ [.004, .018] .158ⴱⴱ
Discrimination ⫺.001 ⫺.001 [⫺.007. .006] ⫺.010
Internalized heterosexism .003 .003 [⫺.002, .008] .055
Expectation of rejection ⫺.002 ⫺.001 [⫺.005, .002] ⫺.032
Concealment ⫺.003ⴱ ⫺.003† [⫺.006, .000] ⫺.089†
FFM factors
Neuroticism .003 [.002, .008] .051
Extraversion .005ⴱ [.001, .009] .102ⴱ
Agreeableness .003 [⫺.004, .009] .034
Conscientiousness ⫺.010ⴱⴱⴱ [⫺.016, ⫺.005] ⫺.154ⴱⴱⴱ
Openness to experience .005 [⫺.002, .011] .062
Model summary
⌬R2 .017† .040ⴱⴱⴱ .037ⴱⴱⴱ
⌬F 2.11† 5.067ⴱⴱⴱ 4.923ⴱⴱⴱ
Note. CI ⫽ confidence interval. “Female and “White” categories, each coded as 0, served as references.

p ⬍ .10. ⴱ p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱ p ⬍ .01. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001.
SEXUAL MINORITIES, PERSONALITY, SUBSTANCE USE 5

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