Personality and substance use disorders in young adults.

BACKGROUND There have been no studies of the co-occurrence of personality and substance use disorders in young community-dwelling adults. AIMS To examine the association between DSM-IV personality disorders and substance use disorders in a large representative sample of young community-dwelling participants. METHOD Young Australian adults (n=1520, mean age=24.1 years) were interviewed to determine the prevalence of substance use disorders; 1145 also had an assessment for personality disorder. RESULTS The prevalence of personality disorder was 18.6% (95% CI 16.5-20.7). Personality disorder was associated with indices of social disadvantage and the likely presence of common mental disorders. Independent associations were found between cluster B personality disorders and substance use disorders. There was little evidence for strong confounding or mediating effects of these associations. CONCLUSIONS In young adults, there are independent associations between cluster B personality disorders and substance use disorders.