Facets of personality and drinking in first-year college students

Our objective was to evaluate how well personality traits predict drinking-related variables in a longitudinal study of college students. Participants were drawn randomly from all incoming first-year students at a large university and they completed measures of the Big Five facets, sensation seeking, and drinking outcomes. Results suggested that variables linked with sensation seeking and impulse control were consistent predictors of drinking-related variables. In a few cases, narrower facets of personality were better predictors of criterion variables than were their corresponding Big Five traits. Such results underscore the value of using narrower aspects of personality for predicting consequential life outcomes.