Examination of the relationship between sensation seeking/novelty seeking and alcohol/drug use

The present study was conducted to investigate the trait of Sensation Seeking/Novelty Seeking and its relationship to various behaviors associated with alcohol and drug use. Specific behaviors under investigation included: reasons for using drugs/alcohol; perception of riskiness of using various drugs; problems associated with use of drug/alcohol. Two instruments were used to measure the trait of sensation seeking: Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) and Cloninger's Novelty Scale (NSS), a subscale of his Tri-Dimensional Personality Questionnaire. Of specific interest was the effectiveness of SSS and NSS in predicting various behaviors associated with drug/alcohol use. The scores of these two instruments and their subscales were correlated to the following outcome measures: reasons for initial use and current use of drugs, age at first use of alcohol and age at first intoxication, family and individual treatment for substance abuse, perception of risk involved in the use of 10 specific drugs, life time and current use of 10 specific drugs, problems associated with alcohol/drug use, diversity of drugs use over the course of the life time, and various alcohol consumption patterns.; Data was analyzed on 214 individuals of different ages ranging from 13-65. Pearson product-moment correlations were performed correlating both scales and combined scales to the various outcome measures. In addition, regression analysis was computed comparing SSS and NSS to six major alcohol drug behaviors. Multiple regression was also performed in order to control for factors such as age and gender.; The results of this study indicate that the SSS is a better measure in predicting various alcohol related behaviors. The SSS correlated with 12 out of the 14 measures at the.01 level and with one other measure at the.05 level, while the NSS correlated with 2 out of 14 measures at the.01 level and 3 measures at the.05 level. Several of the SSS subscales, particularly the Disinhibition scale, Experience Seeking scale and the Boredom Susceptibility scale were better predictors of various drug/alcohol behaviors, than the total SSS score.