One personality trait predicts who’s at risk, but it comes with hidden strengths
STUDY: Giugovaz A et al, Addiction 2026; doi:10.1111/add.70417
STUDY TYPE: Longitudinal cohort study
FUNDING: Research Foundation-Flanders; European Union Next Generation EU
Background
The Big Five model divides personality traits into:
- Openness to Experience: Creativity, curiosity, and a willingness to try new things. High openness suggests intellectual curiosity, while low openness indicates a preference for routine.
- Conscientiousness: Self-control, diligence, and organization. High conscientiousness reflects responsibility, dependability, and goal-directed behavior.
- Extraversion: Sociability, assertiveness, and energy. High extraversion indicates an outgoing, energetic person, whereas low extraversion (introversion) suggests a quieter, more solitary nature.
- Agreeableness: Kindness, cooperation, and warmth. High agreeableness suggests a tendency to be trusting and compassionate, while low agreeableness suggests skepticism and competitiveness.
- Neuroticism: Emotional stability and the tendency to experience negative emotions. High neuroticism is linked to anxiety and moodiness, while low neuroticism (often called emotional stability) indicates calm and resilience
Here’s a free Big Five test.
Past studies have linked low conscientiousness and low agreeableness to problematic drinking. This study looked further, asking which traits were necessary for problem drinking to develop.
The Study
This 23-year Belgian longitudinal study followed 306 children, measuring the Big Five personality traits at ages 6–9, 14–17, and 20–23, then assessing problematic alcohol use in adulthood (age 29–32). A research tool (necessary condition analysis) tested whether specific traits had to be present — not just correlated — for problematic use to emerge.
Conscientiousness was the only trait that qualified as a necessary condition at every developmental stage (childhood effect size d = 0.31; emerging adulthood d = 0.30). In contrast, no one with high conscientiousness developed high-level problematic drinking.
Limitations: one Belgian cohort, mostly white, mostly employed.
Benefits of Low Conscientiousness
This doesn’t mean that everyone with low conscientiousness develops drinking problems. Most people in the study with low scores didn’t develop problematic use, so other factors clearly contribute.
Personality traits are both strengths and limitations. People with low conscientiousness are more flexible, spontaneous, and less stressed by perfectionism.They adapt creatively to changing situations, are better at taking risks, and may also be less judgmental of others and better at forming social connections.
Practice Implications
- Know thyself. By understanding our strengths and limitations we can carve a better path through life.
- People with low conscientiousness encounter many roadblocks, and how they manage (or avoid) those setbacks may make the difference between turning to alcohol or becoming a flexible, fun-loving person.
- Temperament is hard to change, but therapy can help us make the most of our unique mix of traits.
— Chris Aiken, MD
Director, Psych Partners
Editor in Chief, Carlat Psychiatry Report
What’s Your Take? Share in Comments
- How do you work with personality traits in practice?
