Comment on “At-risk drinking and current cannabis use among medical students: a multivariable analysis of the role of personality traits”

摘要

The paper by Schwarzbold et al.1 comments on therelatively unique population of medical students, whichdiffers from the broader general population on key factorssuch as general intelligence, academic and careermotivation, and self-selection to a helping profession.Thus, the data need to be understood in proper context. Ingeneral, the observed associations between the FiveFactor Model of Personality (Big Five), Behavioral Inhibitionand Activation Systems scales (BIS/BAS) and alcoholand marijuana use are generally consistent with the existingliterature in the broader population, and consistent withfindings from other countries and continents. However,some findings from this report are equivocal or do notsupport the broader literature regarding some specificsubscales of the Big Five and BIS/BAS. Additionally, theresults are partially complicated by a lack of observedassociation between depression and anxiety scores andthe Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4), which mightbe expected in a sufficient sample size (here, n 4 700).However, the authors appropriately raise the possibilitythat the lack of measurement sensitivity in the screeninginstruments may have played a role in the observedresults. Overall, then, generalizing outside this medicalschool population to the broader population may be premature.It might, however, suggest there are unique profileswithin medical-student populations (vs. the generalpopulation), or perhaps more conservatively, withinmedical students in southern Brazil.