Personality Traits Moderate Connections from Drinking Attitudes to Alcohol Use and Myopic Relief, Self-inflation, and Excess

Abstract

Background: Alcohol myopia theory postulates that the level of alcohol use in conjunction with personal cues such as alcohol attitudes and personality traits help to understand the types of consequences manifested. Objectives: This study examined and identified the personality traits that served as predictors and moderators of the risk connections from drinking attitudes to alcohol use to myopia outcomes. Methods: College students (N = 433) completed self-report measures. In a path analysis using structural equation modeling, personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and neuroticism), drinking attitudes, and personality x drinking attitudes interactions simultaneously served as predictors on the outcomes of alcohol use and myopic relief, selfinflation, and excess. Results: Alcohol attitudes and use consistently emerged as unique predictors of all three myopia outcomes. Extraversion and neuroticism were identified as statistical moderators, but results varied depending on the myopia outcome interpreted. Specifically, extraversion moderated the pathways from attitudes to usage and from attitudes to myopic relief. Neuroticism, however, moderated the relations from attitudes to myopic self-inflation and from attitudes to myopic excess. Conclusions/Importance: Extraverted and neurotic dispositions could exacerbate or attenuate the risk connections from alcohol attitudes to outcomes. Findings offer implications for alcohol prevention efforts designed to simultaneously target drinking attitudes, personality traits, and alcohol myopia.

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