Assessment of reward dependence and its subscales in drug addicts and non addicts

A great deal of research has studied the personality profiles of drug addicts using different questionnaires one of which is that of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory questionnaire. The significance of this questionnaire is that it explains the underlying biological mechanisms of different dimensions of personality. One such dimension is Reward Dependence (RD). Although some studies have attempted to assess personality profiles of addicts using this questionnaire, none of them have specifically studied the subscales of reward dependence in opiate dependent individuals in opiate addicts. Thus, the purpose of the present study is to address this issue in Iranian population of opiate addicts. Specifically, addicts (n=73) and non addicts (n=50) were randomly selected and administered the reward dependence of the TCI questionnaire. According to results of this study, there was no significant difference in reward dependence and its subscales of addicts with that of the non-addicts. Such findings are discussed in the context of literature.