Dynamics of childhood and adolescent personality traits and adolescent drug use.

Examined the relative impact of childhood and adolescent personality/behavioral attributes on the adolescent's stage of drug use. Mothers of 356 youngsters were interviewed concerning their child's personality, behavior, development and childrearing techniques, family structure, family health, and demographics when the child was 5–20 yrs of age (Time 1 [T1]) and again when the child was 13–18 yrs old (Time 2 [T2]). Adolescents also completed a self-report questionnaire concerning their personalities, behavior, and drug use at T2. As hypothesized, findings support a mediational model as best depicting the interrelation of the domains of childhood and adolescent personality and stage of drug use. Childhood personality attributes were related to adolescent personality attributes, which in turn were related to adolescents' stage of drug use. Across-time personality correlations suggested that substantial continuity exists in personality traits. However, there was also some evidence for the malleability of these traits. Results suggest the positive effects of protective (i.e., nondrug-conducive) personality traits in children can be weakened by the presence of risk factors during adolescence, leading to higher T2 drug stage, and that the negative impact of childhood risk personality traits can be ameliorated by protective personality traits during adolescence, resulting in lower drug stage. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)