A study on tridimensional personality characteristics of heroin dependence

Abstract

Objective To test the reliability of the Chinese version of tridimensional personality questionnaire(TPQ) and to explore three-dimentional personality characteristics of heroin dependence. Methods Personality characteristics of 358 heroin dependers,114 male smoker and 200 normal controls were investigated using the TPQ. 78 heroin depender were examined 10 days later to test the reliability of TPQ.Results (1) Retest reliabilities of the three higher-order dimensions of the novelty seeking(NS),reward dependence(RD) and harm avoidance(HA) were all good( r =0.87,P <0.01;r =0.84,P <0.01,r =0.64,P <0.01).The dimension's Alpha split of NS or HA were 0.72 and 0.71,respectively. While RD's Alpha split was just 0.29. (2) NS was higher but not significantly in the heroin-dependenc group than normal controls(P =0.09),but the former had significantly higher HA and lower RD [(15.25±5.95) vs (13.22±6.27),t =13.65,P <0.01;(17.08±3.28) vs(18.29±3.83),t =15.07,P <0.01]. (3)There were significantly sex differences in all the three higher-order dimensions of TPQ in the heroin-dependence group( P <0.01). Male heroin dependers had significantly higher NS ,higher HA and lower RD than male controls[(16.99±4.76) vs(15.29±4.60), P =0.002;(14.46±6.01) vs (12.31±6.00),P =0.002],and male heroin dependers had significantly higher NS,lower RD than male smokers( P <0.001).Compared with female controls,female heroin dependers only had significantly higher HA.Conclusion Reliability of the TPQ is good. Sex difference in personality characteristics of heroin depender exits. Male heroin depender have high NS,high HA,and low RD,which can provide scientific data for early intervention of heroin dependence. Key words: Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire; Reliability; Validity; Heroin dependence