Affiliations: Department of Psychology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Note: [] Address for Correspondence: Marcus Roth, University of Duisburg-Essen, Berliner Platz 6–8, 45127 Essen, Germany, E-mail: Marcus.Roth@uni-due.de
Abstract: This study examined the moderating effect of big-five based personality types on the relation between sensation seeking and three adolescent marijuana use outcomes (lifetime use, current use, attraction to marijuana use). 1,236 German adolescents, aged 14 to 16 years, participated in the current study. The results show that sensation seeking is indeed related to marijuana consumption in adolescents, but that this relation is moderated by personality type. For instance, in adolescents with a resilient personality structure (low scores in neuroticism, medium to high scores in extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) the “classical” relation between sensation seeking and marijuana use is not valid. Future implications are discussed in light of these results.
Keywords: personality types, sensation seeking, drug use, adolescents, Big Five
