The Examination Of The Relationship Between 5-Factor Personality Traits And Social Anxiety Among Individuals With Alcohol And Substance Use Disorders

INTRODUCTION: The five-factor personality, which includes the dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness, serves as a comprehensive framework for understanding how personality influences behavior and emotional regulation.
METHODS: The present study aims to determine the correlation between 5-factor personality traits and social anxiety in individuals diagnosed with alcohol and substance use disorder in Eastern Turkey, a non-Western, Islamic society, using a descriptive cross-sectional design. This study was conducted with 172 individuals with substance use disorders who were treated at the SBU Van Training and Research Hospital Alcohol and Substance Addiction Treatment Centre between July and September 2023. Participants completed the Big Five Inventory-Short Form and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. A linear regression model is used to test a predictive effect of the five-factor personality on social anxiety.
RESULTS: Most participants were male, of adolescent age and all participants exhibited social anxiety. There was a weak negative correlation between the five-factor personality traits such as extraversion (r: -.205, p=.007), agreeableness (r: -.162, p=.034), conscientiousness (r: -164, p=.031) and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale anxiety subscale. In addition, there was a weak negative correlation between the the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale total score and extraversion (r: -179, p=.019), while there was a weak positive correlation between neuroticism and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale total score (r: .289, p<.001). The multiple regression model revealed that neuroticism was a significant predictor of social anxiety.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These results suggest that personality traits, particularly neuroticism, may play an important role in social anxiety in individuals with substance use disorders.