Cross-cultural examination of different personality pathways to alcohol use and misuse in emerging adulthood

LAURA MEZQUITA; ADRIAN BRAVO; GENERÓS ORTET; ANGELINA PILATTI; MATTHEW PEARSON; M I IBAÑEZ

DRUG AND ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE

ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2018 vol. 192 p. 193 - 200

0376-8716

Background: Previous research has identified different, but notmutually exclusive, etiological pathways (i.e., the positive affectregulation pathway, the negative affect regulation pathway and thedeviance proneness pathway) to alcohol use and misuse in whichpersonality characteristics play a key role. Objectives: The presentstudy aimed to simultaneously and cross-culturally examine all thesepersonality pathways to alcohol use in a large sample of young adultdrinkers (N=1280) from the US, Argentina and Spain. Method: Structuralequation modeling was conducted to test the models. Multi-group modelswere conducted to test model invariance across countries and gendergroups. Results: In the whole sample, low conscientiousness andextraversion were related to alcohol outcomes through enhancementdrinking motives (i.e., positive affect regulation pathway), lowemotional stability was related through coping drinking motives (i.e.,negative affect regulation pathway), and low conscientiousness and lowagreeableness were related through antisocial behavior (i.e., devianceproneness pathway). The model was invariant between gender groups. Someminor, yet significant, differences across countries arose. Specifically,antisocial behavior was a significant mediator of the association betweenagreeableness and alcohol use, but only in the US subsample. Conclusions:The present findings suggest that risky-personality pathways for alcoholuse and alcohol-related problems may be generalized across gender groupsand cultures in young adults.