Party people: personality and MDMA use of house party visitors

Personality characteristics have been linked to substance use, however research on the association between personality and MDMA use is scarce. This study examined differences on Big Five personality dimensions between a population sample of non-hard drug using Dutch adolescents and young adults (n=265), and a sample of young people visiting house parties, including both MDMA- and non-MDMA-users (n=541). Results showed that 71% of the party visitors indicated using MDMA. Group differences were found on conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism-emotional stability, but not on resourcefulness-openness to experience. Compared to the non-hard drug using National respondents, MDMA-using party visitors reported higher levels of extraversion and both MDMA and non-MDMA-using partygoers showed less conscientiousness. Non-MDMA-using partygoers reported less agreeableness and emotional stability than National Sample respondents. MDMA-users actually high on the drug at the moment of administration of the questionnaire did not differ from their non-high counterparts on any of the personality dimensions.