Approximately 1 in 12 Americans suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence and more than 88,000 deaths annually are related to excessive alcohol consumption. Being able to identify individuals who may be prone to excessive drinking could lead to more targeted intervention strategies to prevent problematic alcohol use. In the present study, we sought to explore whether the traits of neuroticism and extraversion were related to problematic drinking. A total of 101 participants (29 males and 71 females) between the ages of 18-69 completed an online survey containing demographic questions, the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised. The results of a series of four binary logistic regressions targeting different aspects of alcohol consumption indicated that, while neuroticism and extraversion did not statistically predict problematic drinking, extraversion was predictive of someone being a drinker not.
