Psychosocial profile of personality traits self-regulation and substance abuse tendencies of adolescents in Gauteng : efficacy of a competency skills programme

Abstract

Background: Using a 2-in-1 design approach, the study aimed to assess the relationship between substance abuse tendencies, self-regulation, personality and demographic attributes in the substance-abusing sample compared to a control group (Phase I) and empirically determine a competency skills intervention programme in Phase II. Method: Eight hundred and ninety four (n-894) adolescents between the ages of 14 and 19 years randomly selected from urban, private and semi-rural high schools in Gauteng Province participated in the study (Phase I) and another pre-posttest group of 10 (Phase II) in addition to an existing pilot study conducted with 50 adolescents (n=50) to test the reliability and validity of the instruments for the study which included the Big Five Inventory, Self-regulation Questionnaire (SRQ) and Adolescent Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-A2). Statistical computations include: Means, skewness, t-tests, Chisquare, series of Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) and Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results: Results in Phase I helped establish baseline data for adolescent substance abusers and non-abusers on the Big Five, SRQ, SASSI-A2 and demographic variables. Self-regulation was influenced by personality factors of extroversion and conscientiousness. Low self-regulation is a recipe for substance abuse among adolescents: Therefore adolescents with poor self-regulation, low conscientiousness and low openness will be more prone to abuse substances without realizing the impact of the abuse as well as lack of knowing that their behaviour is out of their control. ANCOVA results for Phase II did indicate that the effectiveness of the programme for the pre-posttest scores of the experimental group. In other

words, there was an improvement in self-regulation capacity and personality components, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness and extraversion were altered noticeably. Conclusions: Self-regulation interventions did help adolescent substance abusers in this study including emotional and behavioural control, planning and proactive coping. It is recommended that more research on the associations between self-regulation and adolescent substance abuse in the South African context be done as well as research on the impact of self-regulation as a concept in its own and its relationship with resilience. The need for good parenting was also recommended.