Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry

Objectives : This study aims to identify temperament and characteristics of cannabis and methamphetamine abusers for elucidating psycho-biological variables related to certain substance abuse.

Methods : A total of 320 patients who registered in the 'Hepatitis C cohorts study of intravenous drug users' between March 2006 and March 2010 participated in this study. Data on demographic variables were obtained and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and measures for nicotine dependence, alcohol dependence, depression and anxiety were assessed. After comparing TCI between cannabis, methamphetamine, and co-abusers, correlations between TCI and other clinical variables were examined.

Results : The methamphetamine abuser group showed significantly higher scores in Novelty Seeking (NS2) and Harm Avoidance (HA3) in temperament than the cannabis abuser and co-abuser groups, whereas the cannabis abuser group had higher scores in purposefulness (SD2), congruent second nature (SD5), and self-directedness (SD) in character than the methamphetamine abuser group. In addition, temperaments and characters correlated with various psychiatric symptoms.

Conclusions : We found the differences in temperament and characters among cannabis abusers, methamphetamine abusers. These findings might contribute to further understanding of mechanisms of cannabis and methamphetamine abuse.

Keywords Cannabis;Methamphetamine;Substance abuse;Temperament;Character.