Clinical trial NCT05516823: Personality and Drug Use
Official title: Personality and Drug Use
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Conditions: No Conditions Study Focus on Substance Use and Personality
Keywords: personality
substance use
psychedelics
drugs
Lead sponsor: Psychedelic Data Society
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Maastricht University
name: Quantified Citizen Technologies Inc.
First posted: 2022-08-26
Enrollment: 1000
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: RETROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Adults (age of 18 or above) of full mental and legal capacities.

Brief summary: This is an observational, naturalistic study that aims to assess whether people with different histories of recreational or therapeutic illicit substance use (or no history at all) will differ in terms of their personalities.

Detailed description: The study aims to assess the association between the use of various substances (including psychedelic and non-psychedelic drugs) and personality profiles. Specifically, the study will investigate if people with different histories of drug use differ in personality profiles. As psychedelics were found to influence changes in personality over time, the investigators sought to measure both the current personality profile (via the Big Five Inventory-44 (BFI)) and perceived retrospective changes in personality (via a self-constructed Retrospective Personality Scale (RPS). To investigators' knowledge, no study has explored the diversity of substance use histories in relation to individual current and retrospective personality traits and aggregate personality profiles.

The investigators aim to survey a large number of participants from all around the world, using a mobile app-based survey. The remote character of the study will increase its accessibility and diversity, which are common shortcomings in the psychedelic line of research. Additionally, a remote and anonymous study setup with no face-to-face interactions might help overcome any potential concerns participants may have regarding the sharing of sensitive information (e.g., reports on illicit substance use). To increase scientific transparency and for educational purposes (comparing personalized results with the aggregated results of participants with similar socio-demographic profiles), investigators plan to share personalized results summaries with participants of the study, which might be an additional motivating factor for study completion. In conclusion, this large-scale, low-budget, naturalistic, retrospective, observational study aims to shed light on the aforementioned gap in the literature and lay a foundation of evidence for further research.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 18 years of age or older
* full legal and mental capacity
* access to a smartphone with internet to fill in the study measures (available for iOS and Android)

Exclusion Criteria:

* lack of proficiency in English
* visual impairments (not able to use mobile devices)
* illiteracy

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in scores on Big Five Inventory (BFI-44)
timeFrame: Measured twice: once referring to participants' personality from a period of their youth (18-21 years old) and the second time: the current moment, how they perceived their personality in general terms.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in scores on Retrospective Personality Scale (RPS)
timeFrame: Measured twice: once referring to participants' personality from a period of their youth (18-21 years old) and the second time: the current moment, how they perceived their personality in general terms.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Maastricht University
name: Kim PC Kuypers, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: