Differences in Personality and Family Environment of Heroin Addicts And Non-consumers of Psychoactive Substances

• Main Authors: Tamara Efendić Spahić, Elvis Vardo, Mitra Mirković-Hajdukov
• Format: Article
• Language: Bosnian
• Published: University of Tuzla, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences 2021-02-01
• Series: Društvene i Humanističke Studije
• Subjects: heroin addicts; personality dimensions; family environment
• Online Access: http://www.dhs.ff.untz.ba/index.php/home/article/view/485

The research dealt with the identification of significant differences in the basic dimensions of personalityaccording to the five-factor model between two groups of respondents: heroin addicts and the controlgroup of respondents, non-consumers of psychoactive substances. Also, we wanted to determine whetherthe respondents - heroin addicts in relation to the non-clinical group differ significantly in personalitytraits given the completeness of the family environment in which they grew up, and the propensity ofparents to alcoholism and violent behavior. The study included a sample of 297 subjects, of which 155were heroin users, and 142 were non-clinical control group subjects, students of different study profilesof the University of Tuzla. The clinical and non-clinical samples were uniform in terms of characteristicsimportant for the research. In order to test the research hypotheses, in addition to the insight into thedescriptive parameters, a one-way analysis of variance was used. The results show that heroin usersachieve significantly higher results in the dimensions of Agreeableness (F = 21.51; p = 0.00),Conscientiousness (F = 13.89; p = 0.00) and Neuroticism (F = 13.23; p = 0.00), while the clinical andnon-clinical groups do not differ significantly in the dimensions of Openness and Extraversion. In thegroup of heroin consumers, respondents coming from incomplete families achieve significantly lowerresults on the Conscientiousness dimension (F = 4.20; p = 0.04), the tendency to consume parentalalcohol proved to be a significant factor for the Neuroticism dimension (F = 4.39; p = 0, 04) andOpenness (F = 15.41; p = 0.00), while parental propensity to violent behavior proved to be a significantfactor for the Neuroticism dimension (F = 4.49; p = 0.04) and Openness (F = 15.41; p = 0.00). ). Whenit comes to the non-clinical control group, family completeness and characteristics of the familyenvironment (parents ‘tendency to consume alcohol and parents’ tendency to violent behavior) did notprove to be significant factors for differences in personality traits.