Personality profiles and aggressive behaviour of heroin use disorder patients compared with non-substance-use peers

Background: Personality characteristics and aggressive behaviour have long been considered factors that pre-exist addiction. Cattell’s 16-Personality Factor Questionnaire and the Buss-Durkee Inventory have been used in psychosomatic medicine, and in psychiatric as well as Substance Use Disorder patients, to study psychological profiles and aggressive behaviour. Methods: In this study, we verified the existence of the factors that pre-exist heroin. Using Cattell’s 16PF Questionnaire and the Buss-Durkee Inventory, we have, at both the univariate and multivariate level, compared 73 Heroin Use Disorder (HUD) patients with a sample of 45 Substance Non-User (SNU) peers, selected after matching their respective socio-demographic data. Our expectation was, that among the characteristics that show the most evident deviance from the general population, those that differentiate HUD patients most sharply from their SNU peers should be considered as factors pre-existing heroin addiction. Results: HUD patients and SNU peers, regarding psychological profiles, differ from the general population in the same way. As to the significant univariate differences, the 8-Sensitivity and 6-Rule-Consciousness factors are the only deviants from the general population in all individuals (higher scores in 8-Sensitivity and lower values in 6-Rule-Consciousness). Conversely, the 4-Dominance factor and 2-Reasoning factors are deviant only in the HUD patients, while 10-Abstractedness was not deviant in all our subjects. Differences in the 4-Dominance factor did not enter into the multivariate analysis. Being introverted, expedient in rule consciousness, abstracted in abstractedness, but less sensitive and more concrete in reasoning, are the prominent characteristics that allow HUD patients to be differentiated from their SNU peers. Regarding aggressive behaviour, HUD patients are deviant in all factors, whereas their SNU peers are deviant in only two elements: 2-Indirect Aggression and 6-Suspiciousness. These two factors do not, however, have a high profile at the multivariate level, and HUD patients can be distinguished by the higher values recorded for the 1-Assault and 4-Negativism factors. Conclusions: Psychological profiles that show deviance from those of the general population are unable to differentiate HUD patients from their SNU peers, with the sole exceptions of rule-consciousness and sensitivity, which, in any case, show greater deviance in their SNU peers. Assault and Negativism are not deviant in SNU peers and can be considered as probable consequences of heroin use. © 2018, Pacini Editore S.p.A. All rights reserved.