Sensation seeking and alcohol use: A meta-analytic review☆
Introduction
Sensation seeking is a personality trait that is characterized by the tendency to seek out varied and novel sensations and experiences. These experiences may include participation in risky physical activities (e.g., mountain climbing, bungee jumping, or skydiving), an attraction to novel political and philosophical ideologies, or participation in activities that are potentially addictive such as gambling and substance use. Sensation seeking is thought to be a normally distributed personality characteristic that is influenced by both biological and environmental factors (Zuckerman, 1994). In addition, sensation seeking is conceptualized as being a multidimensional, or multifaceted, personality construct (Zuckerman, 1979, Zuckerman, 1994) that is comprised of the following four components: thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, disinhibition, and boredom susceptibility. These four components are assessed by the Sensation Seeking Scale, or SSS (for reliability and validity information and for information bearing on the development of the instrument, see Zuckerman, 1979, Zuckerman, 1994). As regards to the SSS's factorial validity, numerous empirical studies conducted in the United States and abroad support the instrument's four-factor structure (see chapter two of Zuckerman, 1994, for a review. See also Loas et al., 2001, Roberti et al., 2003, Rowland and Franken, 1986).
The thrill and adventure seeking (TAS) component is characterized by a desire to engage in activities that involve speed or danger, such as downhill skiing or cliff diving. Whereas TAS is expressed through physical pursuits, a second dimension of sensation seeking, experience seeking (ES), reflects the need for novel personal or inner experiences. With this type of sensation seeking there is a preference for new and different experiences that might be achieved through travel to exotic destinations, interaction with people from different cultures, or learning about new philosophies. A third component of sensation seeking, disinhibition (DIS), is characterized by the expression of reduced social restraint. Individuals with this behavioral tendency are less constrained by societal norms and expectations and so they are more experimental with regard to their behavior. High disinhibitors often report having many sexual partners and they are more likely to both gamble and engage in illicit drug use (Zuckerman, 1994). The final dimension of sensation seeking is labeled boredom susceptibility (BS). BS is evident when an individual frequently reports distaste for anything routine or predictable. To counter their tendencies toward boredom, individuals high in BS often seek out new experiences and they seek out new people with whom to share such experiences. Perhaps not surprisingly, people high in this type of sensation seeking often have problems maintaining long-term personal relationships, but they do thrive in professions involving changing environments, such as aviation (Zuckerman, 1994).
Although numerous articles and book chapters have been written on the causes, correlates and consequences of sensation seeking, few topics have received as much attention as the association between sensation seeking and alcohol use (see, for example, Alterman et al., 1990, Brennan et al., 1986, Cherpitel, 1993, Donohew et al., 1999, Zuckerman and Kuhlman, 2000). Higher levels of sensation seeking have generally been shown to correlate with greater quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption (Zuckerman, 1994). Moreover, empirical research on treatment-seeking adults has found a negative relationship between sensation seeking and both age at first use of alcohol and age of onset of alcohol abuse (Ball, Carroll, & Rounsaville, 1994), suggesting that high sensation seekers first use and abuse alcohol at an earlier age than their lower scoring counterparts. Relative to other measures of personality, sensation seeking has been shown to be a particularly strong predictor of initial substance use and abuse in adolescence across a variety of drug use categories (Andrucci et al., 1989, Jaffe and Archer, 1987).
In light of these empirical research findings, the question naturally arises as to why it is that high sensation seeking is associated with greater alcohol use. The predominant theoretical explanation for this finding stems from research showing that sensation seeking is negatively correlated with platelet levels of monoamine oxidase, or MAO (see chapter 11 of Zuckerman, 1994, for a review). MAO regulates levels of monoamines, such as dopamine and norepinephrine, by breaking them down either after reuptake, or in the synaptic cleft (Nolte, 1993). A number of studies have shown that heavier drinkers have lower MAO levels than do lighter drinkers (Zuckerman, 1994). The negative correlation between sensation seeking and MAO is thought to be due, in large part, to the positive correlation between sensation seeking and dopamine (Netter and Rammsayer, 1991, Zuckerman, 1994). Elevated levels of dopamine might lead high sensation seekers to become heavier consumers of alcohol because (a) dopamine motivates appetitive reward seeking behavior, especially when the rewards are biologically (intrinsically) reinforcing (Zuckerman, 1994), and (b) alcohol and other drug use stimulate dopamine release in the central area of the brain's reward system (i.e., the ventral striatum and nucleus accumbens) (Koob and Le Moal, 1997, Robbins and Everitt, 1996). The released dopamine, in turn, is thought to be biologically rewarding thereby further reinforcing future substance use behavior (Wise, 1980). Additional evidence supporting the link between dopamine and drinking behavior comes from molecular genetics research showing a strong association between the D2 dopamine receptor (DRD2) polymorphism and both drinking quantity and severity of alcohol dependence (Connor, Young, Lawford, Ritchie, & Noble, 2002). Genetic support for the association between dopamine and sensation seeking comes from research showing an association between the Type 4 dopamine receptor gene polymorphism and novelty seeking (Keltikangas-Järvinen et al., 2003).
From a theoretical standpoint then it is certainly reasonable to predict a relationship between sensation seeking and alcohol use. To ascertain the extent of research activity on sensation seeking and drinking, a keyword search was conducted using the PsycINFO database (search conducted on 5-16-05). The search yielded 398 citations for the terms “sensation seeking and alcohol.” The citation count, in parentheses, for other sensation seeking–drug use combinations was as follows: marijuana (71), cigarettes (39), cocaine (44), heroin (15), stimulant (22), and caffeine (8) (the terms “smoking” and “opiate” yielded 88 and 15 citations, respectively). These citation data indicate that among studies examining sensation seeking and substance use, alcohol-related topics have received the lion's share of research attention. Furthermore, as noted above, the relevant studies on personality and drinking behavior indicate, with few exceptions, a positive association between sensation seeking and alcohol use. Moreover, of the various sensation seeking components, disinhibition appears to be the single strongest correlate of drinking behavior. However, despite the general consensus in the literature of a positive relationship between sensation seeking and drinking, there are several issues that remain unresolved.
First and perhaps foremost, given the wide range of methodological and data analytic differences across studies, it is difficult to discern the overall, or average, magnitude of the association between sensation seeking and alcohol use. To illustrate, there is a large degree of variability in sample sizes across studies, suggesting that some effect sizes are less reliable (have larger standard errors) than others. Furthermore, some of the smaller n studies examining the association between sensation seeking and alcohol use may have been underpowered (for a recent discussion of the causes of, and problems associated with, underpowered behavioral science research, see Maxwell, 2004). A second unresolved issue concerns the extent to which one or more variables might moderate the association between sensation seeking and alcohol use. In an attempt to address these concerns and limitations, a comprehensive quantitative synthesis of the sensation seeking and alcohol use literature was performed. The primary goal of the meta-analysis was to determine the mean and median effect sizes between sensation seeking (and each of the four components) and alcohol consumption. A second goal was to examine the extent to which various methodological and demographic characteristics moderated the strength of association between sensation seeking and alcohol use.
Section snippets
Literature search
Two strategies were employed to obtain relevant empirical research articles. First, keyword searches were conducted using three electronic databases: PsycINFO, Medline, and Conference Papers Index. Second, we perused the reference lists of key review articles and book chapters for additional relevant studies. Electronic search terms included alcohol, alcohol use, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcoholism, drinking, beer, wine, liquor, and ethanol crossed with sensation seeking, thrill
Results
The final pool of 61 articles included a total of 37,058 research participants. The mean sample size was 607.5 (SD = 822.9), the median was 321, and the sample sizes ranged from a low of 20 to a high of 4927. The study characteristics (e.g., design type, sample size, nature of participants, mean age, etc.), and the weighted effect sizes between alcohol use and sensation seeking for each study, are presented in Table 1. As these data indicate, the vast majority of studies were cross-sectional
Discussion
The objectives of the present meta-analysis were to ascertain the overall mean (and median) effect sizes between sensation seeking and alcohol use and to examine potential moderators of these effect size estimates. As regards to the overall strength of association, the mean weighted correlation between alcohol consumption and sensation seeking total scale scores (rw = .263) was small to moderate in magnitude. Of the four sensation seeking components, disinhibition evidenced the largest mean
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Portions of this research were previously presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Las Vegas, NV (February, 2005), and the Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists Conference, Clemson, SC (November, 2004).
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References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the meta-analysis.