Research report
Novelty seeking, risk taking, and related constructs as predictors of adolescent substance use: An application of Cloninger's theory

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0899-3289(94)90039-6Get rights and content

This study tested derivations from Cloninger's (1987a) theory of substance use on a sample of 457 adolescents. A 67-item adaptation of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and measures of 10 related constructs were administered together with measures of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use. Factor analysis indicated that the TPQ comprised nine subscales. An interaction for TPQ dimensions indicated that substance use was particularly elevated for persons with high novelty seeking, low harm avoidance, and low reward dependence. TPQ scales converged with constructs from other theoretical systems, being correlated with measures of behavioral undercontrol, risk taking, impulsiveness, anger, independence, life events, tolerance for deviance, and sensation seeking. Implications for substance abuse theory are discussed.

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      If children, adolescents and adults would be confronted with our environment in an experiment, this experiment would be sensitive to developmental differences in exploration not induced by their ecology but by differences in internal drives. Indeed, evidence from self-report and experimental studies shows that novelty and sensation seeking is at its peak during adolescence (Crone et al., 2008; Maslowsky et al., 2019; Wills et al., 1994). An increase in novelty seeking translates to more optimism in our agents and would lead to increased exploration.

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    This research was supported by grant #R01-DA-05950-02 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. A version of this article was presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine in March 1992. We thank the principals of the participating schools for their support, Kate DuHamel and Caroline Zeoli for assistance with the research, Roger Vaughan for consultation on data analysis, and Erich Labouvie for comments on the manuscript.

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