Personality and substance use in Russian youths: The predictive and moderating role of behavioural activation and gender

Alcohol, tobacco, and drug use were investigated in a representative sample of 4501 Russian youths aged 14–25 years. In addition to questions on substance use (SU), the participants filled in the short forms of the Gray–Wilson Personality Questionnaire (GWPQ-S, Slobodskaya, Knyazev, Safronova, & Wilson, 2003) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R) along with questions about environmental risk factors––family and peer SU. Behavioural activation (BAS) was the best personality predictor of SU. Personality variables moderated relations between SU and environmental risk factors. Social conformity enhanced the effect of family drinking on alcohol use, while N moderated the relationship between family smoking and self-smoking. Youths with more active BAS and lower social conformity were more vulnerable to the influence of deviant peers. E also increased peer influence, but this effect was most evident for males. BIS also predisposed to peer influence in males only.