Neuroticism and Substance Use Severity among Male Patients with Substance Use Disorders in North India
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Abstract
Background: Individuals with substance use disorders often report high levels of neuroticism, but such between-group differences do not indicate that the personality domain potentiates dependence severity after the disorder's onset. We explored the norm-referenced Neuroticism profile of a North Indian clinical sample and its association with dependence severity. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included all 50 adult male patients recruited purposively from outpatient de-addiction centres in Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Substance use disorders were diagnosed by the treating psychiatrist according to ICD-11. Neuroticism was measured using the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and dependence severity was measured with the Severity of Dependence Scale for the clinically identified primary drug. Pearson’s correlation was used for the primary analysis, while exploratory Spearman’s correlations examined associations with primary-substance ASSIST and DASS-21 scores.
Results: The mean Neuroticism raw score was 30.18 (SD 5.04), and the mean T-score was 65.46 (SD 6.95). Forty-nine of the 50 participants had T-scores above 50. Neuroticism was not significantly associated with dependence severity (r = −.061, p = .672). Exploratory correlations with primary-substance ASSIST, depression, anxiety, and stress scores were also nonsignificant. Conclusion: Neuroticism was high according to the selected norms but did not differentiate dependence severity in this small, opioid-predominant clinical sample. The cross-sectional SUD-only design cannot establish Neuroticism as a causal or prospective risk factor.
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