The Comparison of Personality Characteristics between Men and Women Related To Methamphetamine, a Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction : Addiction is a multidimensional phenomenon and is composed of various environmental, psychological and social aspects. This study was conducted aimed to compare personality characteristics between men and women who are methamphetamine consumer. Methods : In a cross-sectional study causal-comparative research in the form of descriptive-survey and in summer time of 2015-2016, 350 male and female of methamphetamine consumers in the active phase were chosen through snowball sampling method among residents of Tehran and Suburbs. Data were collected through structured clinical interviews, demographic questionnaires and NEO Personality Inventory. In order to evaluate the information obtained from the questionnaires, the data were compared with the clinical findings and 300 participants were entered to the stage of data analysis. Data were analyzed through Chi-square and independent t-test methods in SPSS version 20. The interviews were also coded and were analyzed by Atlas TI 5. Results: Data analysis showed that the men obtained more scores in terms of neuroticism and agreeableness indices compared to women and were significantly different (p<0/01). In addition, no significant difference was observed between the two groups of women and men in terms of the indices of extraversion, conscientiousness and flexibility (p<0/05). Conclusion : These findings reflect the importance of personality differences in the process of drug abuse and can be important in planning preventive and therapeutic interventions.