Addiction is a complex disorder that affects people from all walks of life. While the specific addictions may differ, research has identified common personality traits that can make someone more susceptible to developing an addiction. Understanding these traits can help identify those at risk and get them the support they need.
Impulsivity
One of the most common personality traits seen in those with addiction is impulsivity. This means having difficulty controlling impulses or urges. Those high in impulsivity may give in to cravings or act without considering consequences. They tend to seek immediate gratification and have less regard for how their behavior might affect themselves or others down the road.
Impulsivity can take many forms including difficulty delaying gratification, trouble controlling anger, acting recklessly or spontaneously without planning, and quick decision-making without evaluating options. Highly impulsive individuals have more problems with risky behaviors like substance abuse, excessive gambling, dangerous driving, unsafe sex, and binge eating.
Research shows that impulsivity arises partly from differences in areas of the brain related to inhibitions, reward-seeking, and willpower. Genetics, brain chemistry, trauma, mental health disorders, and environmental factors also play a role. Those with higher innate impulsivity may more easily spiral into addiction when exposed to drugs or alcohol.
Sensation-Seeking
Another common trait in addiction is sensation-seeking or a strong need for novelty and intense experiences. Those high in this trait take more risks and seek adventure to get an adrenaline rush or feel exhilaration. They may easily get bored with routine or what they see as a mundane existence.
Sensation-seeking tendencies are seen in those with substance addictions who take drugs to get a high or altered state of mind. But it can also be seen with behavioral addictions like compulsive gambling, reckless driving, or high-risk sexual behaviors that provide a thrill. Such individuals are often prone to boredom and need constant stimulation.
This trait is linked to differences in brain systems that regulate dopamine and reward. Genetics play a role as well. Men tend to score higher in sensation-seeking on average than women. Those with ADHD or other disorders involving low dopamine also often exhibit this trait.
Compulsivity
Compulsivity is characterized by intense drives to think or act in certain rigid, repetitive ways. Someone high in compulsivity may develop rituals, obsessions, or strict mental rules they feel intensely compelled to follow. They have trouble adopting flexible thinking and behavior or shifting mindsets.
This rigidity can contribute to addictions that start as habits that spiral out of control. Addictive behaviors become compulsive rituals the person feels driven to repeat, even when harmful. Someone compulsively addicted to drugs, for example, may meticulously plan when and how much to use in rigid routines.
Compulsivity has links to low cognitive flexibility as well as imbalances between brain circuits governing habitual and goal-directed behavior. Childhood trauma and obsessive-compulsive disorder are also associated with highly compulsive personality traits.
Anxiety Sensitivity
Those with anxiety sensitivity percieve bodily sensations or anxiety symptoms as frightening or harmful. They have an amplified response to physical cues like a racing heart, sweaty palms, or muscle tension.
This hypervigilance causes intense discomfort and a strong drive to avoid or escape the sensations. Using alcohol or drugs can temporarily provide escape. But over time substance abuse actually increases anxiety sensitivity, creating a spiral of addiction.
Research finds anxiety sensitivity is linked to changes in areas of the brain related to fear responses and interoception or awareness of bodily sensations. Trauma and generalized anxiety disorder can also contribute to higher anxiety sensitivity and addiction risk.
Stress Reactivity
Individuals with heightened stress reactivity are those whose emotions, thoughts, and physiology are strongly triggered by stressors in their environment. They exhibit larger cognitive, emotional, hormonal, and neural responses to stressful events.
Those with high stress reactivity are prone to using substances as a means of coping with or escaping from pressure, chaos, or emotional distress in their lives. They may rely on addictive behaviors to manage stress and difficult emotions.
Differences in hormonal stress systems, brain pathways regulating emotions and reward, and sensitivity of cognitive-emotional neural networks contribute to increased stress reactivity in some. High dispositional reactivity combined with a stressful environment often leads to addiction.
Novelty-Seeking
Novelty-seeking refers to an eagerness to explore new places, experiences, and sensations combined with quick boredom with routines. This is related to but distinct from sensation-seeking – novelty motivation arises more from curiosity while sensation-seeking is driven by thrills.
Those with high novelty-seeking are prone to seeking out new substances out of curiosity to explore their effects. Continually trying new drugs provides novelty the addicted brain craves. This trait also contributes to using multiple addictive substances. Seeking novelty can also maintain addictive behaviors like gambling, sexual risk-taking, or impulsive traveling.
Novelty-seeking has links to genetics influencing dopamine systems. It is more common in those with bipolar disorder, ADHD, or trauma histories. Young men exhibit the highest levels of this trait on average.
Distress Intolerance
Distress intolerance refers to low threshold for coping with unpleasant emotions or physical/psychological distress. Those with this trait can feel easily overwhelmed by sad, stressed, or other “negative” emotional states.
They have difficulty tolerating discomfort and quickly act to avoid or escape it through whatever means available. This makes substances that provide immediate escape and emotional relief very reinforcing to an addicted individual.
Brain imaging studies show distress intolerance corresponds to heightened activation of regions associated with emotional reactivity and reduced activity in inhibitory, emotion regulation networks.
Hostility
Hostility involves tendencies toward anger, irritability, resentment, and cynicism. People high in this trait are sensitive to interpersonal conflict or perceived slights/rejection and prone to rage reactions.
Addiction is more common among those exhibiting hostility, which provides an outlet for uncontrolled anger and frustration. Using substances can also temporarily reduce hostility’s unpleasant arousal. Hostility correlates with addiction severity and relapse risk.
Hostility partly arises from dysregulation in brain systems governing emotion processing and aggressive impulses. But social and environmental factors like neglect, trauma, instability during childhood also contribute to hostile personality traits.
Alexithymia
Alexithymia is difficulty identifying and describing one’s own emotions. People high in alexithymia have externally-oriented thinking and poor insight into their inner emotional world and bodily sensations.
With limited ability to recognize and verbalize emotions, those with alexithymia cope by turning to external sources of escape and relief like alcohol, drugs, or other addictions. Restricted emotions also contribute to poorer impulse control and aggressive tendencies.
Alexithymia corresponds to reduced activity and connectivity in brain networks for interoception, emotional processing, and introspection. It is linked to childhood trauma, insecure attachment, and mental disorders like depression or PTSD.
Maladaptive Personality Traits
Research shows that certain maladaptive personality traits and disorders characterized by rigid, unhealthy thinking/behavior patterns also correspond to increased addiction risk, including:
- Narcissism – entitlement, lack of empathy, need for admiration
- Borderline personality – impulsivity, emotional instability, unstable relationships
- Antisocial personality – deception, recklessness, aggression, criminal tendencies
- Avoidant personality – social withdrawal, insecurity, hypersensitivity to negative evaluation
Those with these disorders often use substances to cope with negative emotions and thoughts or gain acceptance through drug-using social groups. The disorders arise from genetic tendencies combined with childhood instability, trauma, poor parental bonding.
Neuroticism
Neuroticism refers to a personality dimension characterized by chronic negative emotionality and mental instability. Those high in neuroticism tend to experience more frequent and intense feelings like anxiety, irritability, anger, sadness, and embarrassment.
Neurotic individuals are prone to using drugs or alcohol to regulate emotions and cope with stress that they perceive as overwhelming and intolerable. Research confirms high neuroticism predicts substance problems.
Neuroticism corresponds to greater activity in brain regions associated with threat, punishment, and negative affect. It is more prevalent in women and associated with anxiety disorders, depression, and childhood adversity.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness involves personality traits related to self-discipline, organization, thoroughness, reliability, and deliberation. Conscientious individuals exercise more impulse control and tend to follow rules and norms.
Those on the low end of this dimension are less organized, more spontaneous, and have poorer self-regulation. Low conscientiousness has been repeatedly linked to increased risk for addictive disorders as these individuals have more problems controlling urges and impulses.
Conscientiousness correlates with volume and function of lateral prefrontal regions involved behavioral inhibition and planning. Poor parenting can contribute to lower conscientiousness.
Agreeableness
Agreeableness is a personality dimension involving cooperation, trust, kindness, and empathy. Highly agreeable individuals value getting along with others and are helpful, friendly, and nurturing in nature.
Those low in agreeableness are more hostile, aggressive, callous, manipulative, and self-interested. Low agreeableness is associated with increased risk for addictions, as these individuals are more defiant of rules and interpersonal relations.
Agreeableness is linked to neural networks involved in social cognition, emotion regulation, and ethical decision-making. Childhood adversity and insecure attachment also predict lower agreeableness.
Extraversion
Extraversion involves tendencies to be outgoing, assertive, energetic, and seek stimulation and social engagement. Introversion reflects more inward-focused, reserved, solitary tendencies.
Extraversion is sometimes associated with increased addiction risk as extraverts pursue novelty and stimulation more aggressively. But findings are mixed with some studies showing introversion correlating with problematic drinking and drug use, especially among anxious introverts using substances to cope.
Extraversion corresponds to brain systems governing positive emotion, reward sensitivity, and approach motivation. Genetics are thought to strongly shape extraversion traits.
Openness to Experience
Openness to experience involves flexibility, curiosity, creativity, and receptivity to new ideas and experiences. Closed-mindedness reflects rigidity and conventional thinking.
Openness correlates with drug experimentation but closed individuals more often develop ingrained addictions. This may be because open people sample drugs out of curiosity while closed people rely on them rigidly. Openness also links to trying new treatments like psychedelics for addiction.
Openness corresponds to greater interconnectivity between brain systems for novelty, aesthetics, and intellect. Childhood harshness and trauma predict reduced openness to experience.
Conclusion
Addiction arises from a complex interplay between personality traits, genetics, brain functioning, and life experiences. Key traits that increase addiction risk include impulsivity, compulsivity, sensation-seeking, neuroticism, and difficulties regulating emotions. Understanding personal risk factors can help guide preventative measures and treatment.
