Osobowość i negatywne doświadczenia globalizacyjne jako predyktory problemowego picia wśród polskich studentów

■ INTRODUCTION

Alcohol and its consumption are rooted very deeply in our culture. This varies between societies and can be considered a facilitator of communication between people but, in contrast, it can be regarded as destructive [1]. Thus for some, alcohol is a sign of joy and celebration while for others it is suffering, enslavement, degradation and even death [2]. Drinking can also be perceived as a means of relieving stress [3]. In this study, we aim to verify if problematic drinking can be a reaction to stress and negative feelings related to the changes caused by globalisation and examine the role of personality in this relationship.

Problematic drinking

Drinking alcohol activates various characteri­stic physiological, mental and somatic phenomena and processes in the body, which on the one hand are similar in the entire population and on the other, are relatively diverse and individualised in each case. The biological, social, and psychological consequences of single use, abuse and alcohol addiction have various aspects most often assessed in terms of their pathological severity and durability. The occasional alcohol consumption leads to a short-term, temporary effect that depends on the consumed dose and alcohol metabolism processes. Any amount of alcohol consumed has an impact on physiological and biological functions as well as the psychological and social performance. On the other hand, the long-term physical effects are varied, permanent and pathological and often lead to a whole spectrum of serious somatic diseases and mental disorders [4].
Problematic drinking can be described by four group of symptoms: impaired control, which represents the increased alcohol consumption and increased time spent drinking and persistent craving for alcohol, social problems that include inability to fulfil obligations and awareness of damage caused to relatives and the weakening of previous interests, risky drinking, which is continuing to drink despite declining health and the pharmacological dimension, meaning altered tolerance for alcohol and abstinence syndrome [5].
There are many risk factors associated with problematic drinking e.g., globalisation plays a me­diating role in the relationship between perso­nality and problematic drinking because it influences attitudes and social norms that promote alcohol drinking. Younger generations, especially those with extraverted traits, may be more susceptible to the influence of global trends that normalise drinking alcohol in the context of having fun and relaxing [6]. Iwona Niewiadomska and Marta Sikorska-Głodowicz distinguish psychological, biological and social factors that increase the likelihood of alcoholism. They identify particular personality traits that increase the possibility of alcoholism, of which the most important are emotional immaturity, excessive dependence on others, inability to express emotions, low self- esteem, and low resistance to frustration and stress [7]. The biopsychosocial model of dependence, apart from psychological intrapersonal variables, emphasises the role of environmental factors, including cultural factors, but also draws attention to the interaction between intrapersonal and external factors [8]. In this study, we propose, among these environmental factors, personal experiences of globalisation as an indicator of cultural, economic and technological changes that affect individuals.

The Big-Five Personality Model

Personality is widely regarded as a fundamental aspect of human performance. According to G.W. Allport “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical systems that determine unique adaptation to the environment” [9: 48]. From this definition, personality constitutes a relatively stable, internally organised set of traits and mechanisms that guide human beha­viour and adaptation [10].
The Big-Five Model, a highly recognised and empirically validated framework, offers a compre­hensive approach to personality. This model con­ceptualises personality through five core dimensions: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness [11]. The Big-Five Model has acquired widespread acclaim due to its reliability, stability and cross-cultural applicability [12].
The model covers a spectrum of five crucial personality realms [11]. Neuroticism refers to an individual’s propensity to experience negative emotions like anxiety, sadness and irritability. Individuals with high levels of neuroticism are more likely to experience stress and emotional instability. Extraversion describes the degree of sociability and activity, with extraverted indivi­duals being energetic, assertive and predisposed to social interaction. Openness to experience is characterised by intellectual curiosity and a willingness to explore new ideas and experiences. Individuals exhibiting high levels of this trait tend to embrace novel solutions and engage in creative thinking. Agreeableness is associated with a tendency towards politeness, cooperation and compassion, with agreeable individuals typically avoiding conflict and demonstrating altruistic behaviour. Finally, conscientiousness involves organisation, responsibility and a strong drive to achieve set goals. Highly conscientious individuals exhibit perseverance, high levels of organisation and ambition [11].

Personality and problematic drinking

Research on middle-school students revealed statistically significant differences in the intensity of the Big-Five Model openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness personality traits [13]. The study aimed to identify correlations between personal characteristics and problem behaviours. Dissimilarities were observed between groups of individuals who abstained from using stimulants and those who reported using alcohol, alcohol and cigarettes or alcohol combined with cigarettes and other stimulants. The level of openness to experience was found to be highest among abstainers and lowest among those using all three types of stimulants. Furthermore, levels of agreeableness differed between abstainers and those in the alcohol, cigarette and stimulant user groups. Significant differences in conscientiousness were observed between non-drinkers and individuals in the cigarette, alcohol and combined stimulant groups. These findings suggest that, in addition to extraversion and neuroticism, an individual’s personality can be a differentiating factor in problem behaviours.
Although impulsivity is not a core component of the Big-Five Model personality traits, it is included in the neuroticism subscale of the NEO-PI-R Inventory [14]. Poprawa [15] explored the relationship between impulsivity and alcohol consumption in young men, concluding that impulsivity is a significant predisposition for alcohol-related problems and other disorders. He identified two distinct individual profiles contributing to alcohol consumption, with one being characterised by an extremely high intensity of impulsivity across all domains and another marked by a strong drive, a lack of premeditation, perseveration and intolerance to frustration.

Negative experience of globalisation

Globalisation is a set of processes leading to the creation of a new global society and unified culture by making capital transfer, trade and communication easier [16, 17]. It is strengthened by technological and scientific development [16]. Although globalisation’s impact on the economy is rather apparent, there is little research on its relationship with psychological well-being and mental health. Most of the studies suggest adverse effects like stress [18], exhaustion in the workplace [19], lower self-esteem [20] and lower work satisfaction and achievement motivation [21]. The implicit research on the experience of globalisation has been mainly in the form of theoretical works about reflections on the modern world like living in the age of anxiety [22, 23], cultural trauma [24], the problem with trustworthy information and expertise [25] or the multitude of decisions to be taken [26].
The negative experience of globalisation [27] is a construct that describes the cognitive and emotional effects of globalisation that are consi­dered harmful. These experiences are divided into uncertainty – negative emotions and assessments caused by the insecurity of the modern world, overload – being overwhelmed by the requirements of living in the globalised world, and pessimistic view of the future, cultural threat – feeling that indigenous cultures and tradition are disappearing, social pressure – cultural and social pressure to be successful. The negative experience of globalisation is correlated positively with the cognitive need for closure, fear of missing out, and looking for meaning in life and negatively with extraversion, intellect, emotional stability or having a meaning in life [27].

Hypotheses and research objectives

The primary research objective was to explore the role of negative experiences of globalisation as an environmental factor contributing to the risk of problematic drinking, along with the moderating role of personality in this relationship. Additionally, the secondary objective was to evaluate the validity of the negative experience of globalisation construct within the context of personality and problematic drinking.
H1: Personality and the negative experience of globalisation are predictors of problematic drinking.
There are studies suggesting that the big five personality traits can predict problematic drinking – especially high extraversion, low emotional stability and low conscientiousness [28]. There were also studies on Polish middle-school students, suggesting that, in this age group, the strongest predictors are openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness [13]. Stress is one of the characteristics of living in the globalised world [18]. Negative experiences related to international affairs and uncertainty about the future [27] can also be considered as stressors, and the number of stressors per day predicts the amount of alcohol consumed as well as future problems with alcohol [29].
H2: Personality is a moderator of the relationship between negative experiences of globalisation and problematic drinking.
The big five personality traits significantly mo­derate the relationship between stress and coping methods [30]. The depression aspect of neuroticism is a moderator of the relationship between stress and drinking [31]. Treating the negative experience of globalisation as a stressor, it seems reasonable to predict that personality will moderate its association with problem drinking.

■ MATERIAL AND METHODS

Sample and procedure

The questionnaire was mailed to the students at the University of Opole in Poland. All individuals consented to the survey and were informed of its voluntary nature and anonymity. We determined the minimal sample size with the A-priori Sample Size Calculator for Multiple Regression [32]. It turned out that, for a desired statistical power level of 0.8, a medium anticipated effect size is a probability level of 0.05, and the minimal sample size is 122 for 11 predictors. An online survey was conducted between 6^th January 2025 and 17^th February 2025. All participants provided informed consent via a Google Forms survey. The Ethics and Research Quality Committee of the University of Opole (decision KEBN 63/2024) approved the project.
In the survey participated 208 students, of which 173 were women (83%), 34 men (16%) and one respondent who selected the “other” option. The mean age was 25.1 (M = 23, SD = 7.42). The survey involved day and extramural students, hence the wide age range with a predominance of under-25-year-olds. The largest number of respondents had a secondary education (n = 125; 60.4%). One person did not consent to take part in the study after reading the instructions.

Statistical analyses

All analyses were performed using jamov 2.6 [33]. We also used this statistical package to generate simple slopes for moderation (Figures 1 and 2) and checked the skewness, kurtosis, and normality of the variables with a Shapiro-Wilk test. Assum­ptions for regression analysis were verified with a variance inflation factor and Durbin-Watson test. Spearman’s ρ correlation, regression and moderation analysis were performed.

Problematic drinking

Problematic drinking symptoms were measured with the Problem Drinking Scale (original Skala Picia Problemowego – SPP) [5] including 22 items rated from 1 – never, sometimes, or not applicable to 3 – almost every time. The measure obtained good internal consistency in the original validation sample (Cronbach’s α = 0.96) and the current study (Cronbach’s α = 0.94; McDonald’s ω = 0.95).

Big Five Personality

We measured Big Five Personality with the International Personality Item Pool – Big Five Markers – 20 [34] in the Polish adaptation [35]. It includes 20 items measuring conscientiousness, intellect, emotional stability, agreeableness and extraversion personality traits on a scale from 1 – completely fails to describe me to 5 – completely accurately describes me. The measure obtained satisfactory internal consistency in the Polish validation sample (Cronbach’s α = 0.61-0.82) and the current study (Cronbach’s α = 0.66-0.82; McDonald’s ω = 0.67-0.83).

Negative experience of globalisation

Experiencing the negative effects of globalisation was measured by the Negative Globali­zation Experience Scale in the Polish version (NGE_PL) [27]. It measures general negative experience of globalisation, cultural threat, overload and uncertainty. The measure consists of 30 items with the scale from 1 – I strongly disagree to 5 – I strongly agree. It obtained good internal consistency in the Polish validations sample study (Cronbach’s α = 0.77-0.95; McDonald’s ω = 0.77-0.95) and the current study (Cronbach’s α = 0.71-0.92; McDonald’s ω = 0.72-0.92).

■ RESULTS

Most of the variables were not distributed normally according to the Shapiro-Wilk test (Table I) except the negative experience of globalisation (W = 0.99, p = 0.109) and its social pressure (W = 0.99, p = 0.057) and cultural threat (W = 0.99, p = 0.295) subscales. Most of the variables did not exceed 2 [36] in skewness and kurtosis, except problematic drinking, which was highly right skewed (3.48) and leptokurtic (13.34).
Due to the failure to meet the assumption of normal distribution, we decided to perform Spearman’s ρ correlation to assess the linear relationships between variables (Table II). It turned out that five variables correlate with problematic drinking – there is a positive relationship with the negative experience of globalisation (r = 0.18, p < 0.05), overload (r = 0.16; p < 0.05), cultural threat (r = 0.16, p < 0.05), conscientiousness (r = 0.16, p < 0.05) and extraversion (r = –0.17, p < 0.05).
To carry out further analyses, assumptions for regression analyses were checked. Multicollinearity was assessed by a variance inflation factor, and autocorrelation was assessed by a Durbin-Watson test. There appeared to be no statistically significant autocorrelation between examined variables (Durbin-Watson = 2.08, autocorrelation = –0.04; p = 0.544), and the variance inflation factor did not exceed a value of 10, which is acceptable (Table II).
In the next step, we calculated linear regression to determine if a model consisting of personality and the negative experience of globalisation significantly predicts problematic drinking (Table III). We used step-wise regression, adding socio-demographic variables (age and education) in the first step, personality in the second and the negative experience of globalisation in third. It turned out that the whole model is statistically significant (R² = 0.16, F = 3.33, p < 0.001) and that adding personality to socio-demographic variables improves the prediction of problematic drinking (ΔR² = 0.06, p = 0.029). Adding the negative experience of globalisation in the next step does not improve the model significantly (ΔR² = 0.02, p = 0.304). The most significant predictors are education (β = –0.20, p = 0.004), age (β = 0.19, p = 0.008), uncertainty (β = 0.15, p = 0.038) and extraversion (β = 0.16, p = 0.022).
To further explore the relationship between personality and the negative experience of globalisation with problematic drinking, we checked moderation models with the summary score of the negative experience of globalisation as a predictor, personality traits as moderators and problematic drinking as the dependent variable. Two of five moderations turned out to be significant.
Agreeableness is a moderator of the relationship between the negative experience of globalisation and problematic drinking (Figure I). There is a significant positive correlation between the negative experience of globalisation and problema­tic drinking only in the condition of high agreeableness (β = 0.18, B = 0.02, 95% CI: 0.01-0.03, p = 0.004, ΔR² = 0.04) though the effect size is small (η² = 0.03).
Similarly, intellect was a significant moderator (β = 0.14, B = 0.01, 95% CI: 0.01-0.03, p = 0.042, ΔR² = 0.02) though the effect size is small (η² = 0.02). It strengthens the positive relationship between the negative experience of globalisation and problematic drinking (Figure II).

■ DISCUSSION

The changes associated with the processes of globalisation can be treated as a stressor – the fear of losing one’s job, insecurity about the future, being overwhelmed by the enormity of the decisions one must make all of these can lead to feelings of uncertainty, overload, cultural anxiety or social pressure [27]. We predicted that, according to the biopsychosocial model of dependence [8], the negative experience of globalisation can be an indicator of an environmental predictor of problematic drinking and interact with intra­personal factors like personality traits. The results support both hypotheses. It turned out that the big five personality traits and the negative experience of globalisation are significant predictors of problematic drinking, but the effect is relatively weak. Of the individual predictors, extraversion and uncertainty turned out to be significant as is consistent with existing literature [28, 37]. A high level of extraversion, which is associated with a higher likelihood of spending time with other people, may increase the risk of problematic drinking due to its social role – highly extraverted people may be more likely to attend gatherings where people drink. Of the other big five personality traits, extraversion is one of those that occurs most frequently in studies examining the links between personality and problem drinking [28]. Uncertainty may be considered a stressor, and stress is a well-researched problematic drinking predictor [29]. Additionally, intolerance of uncertainty may motivate the drinking of alcohol [37]. Thus, it seems probable that negative emotions and cognitive evaluations related to an uncertain environment may also be predictors.
Agreeableness and intellect are personality-trait moderators of the relationship between the nega­tive experience of globalisation and problematic drinking. The relationship between the negative experience of globalisation and problematic drinking is statistically significant only at a high level of agreeableness, which is associated with conflict avoidance and altruism [11], and may be a trait that makes it more challenging to function in times of globalisation. They may require more assertiveness and the ability to engage in competition. Intellect, described as an openness to new ideas and experiences [11], is a slightly surprising moderator of the negative experience of globalisation and problematic drinking. The relationship between the negative experience of globalisation and problematic drinking is significant only at a high level of intellect. There is a probability that people who are more open to new things are also more prone to experience more of the effects of globalisation.
There are some limitations to this study. It was conducted on a group of university students, and many people scored close to the minimal possible result on the Problem Drinking Scale [5]. In future studies, it would be worth testing a group of people in which problematic or binge drinking is more common. There was also a problem with gender disproportion in the study group. There were many more women (74%) than men (26%). This ratio does not reflect the general population but may be representative of the group under study – university students. The predominance of women among this group is confirmed [38]. We also did not control for study-related variables that may be associated with alcohol consumption patterns, such as year of study, major or form of study. In further studies, interesting results may be found for other maladaptive methods of coping with stress like the internet and gambling addiction or drug dependence. In this study, we have added two single questions on respondents’ self-perceptions of excessive use of the internet and substances other than alcohol. People who responded that they use the internet excessively had a significantly higher social pressure score. This is a result that can be examined more deeply in further studies. It is also worth considering the incorporation of the negative experience of globalisation into a more clinical model, including stress coping mechanisms, childhood experiences or personality disorder symptoms and checking if, like personality, they will interact in explaining problem drinking. Another limitation of the study is its correlational nature and the relatively modest effects obtained. Finally, without longitudinal or experimental studies, there can be no conclusions about the causality of relationships drawn.

■ CONCLUSIONS

The study’s results indicate that personality and negative experiences of globalisation do little to predict problem drinking. Uncertainty turned out to be the strongest predictor from experiences connected to globalisation. It also appears that personality, specifically extraversion and intellect may moderate the relationship between the negative experience of globalisation and problem drinking. This means that there may be traits that make us more or less able to cope with the problems of globalising world. The study also proves the relevance and accuracy of the new construct of the negative experience of globalisation [27].
The findings of our research contribute to the understanding of how globalisation-related stress and personality traits interact in shaping alcohol consumption behaviours. Future research should incorporate longitudinal and experimental procedures and include other maladaptive coping behaviours.

Conflict of interest/Konflikt interesów

None declared./Nie występuje.

Financial support/Finansowanie

None declared./Nie zadeklarowano.

Ethics/Etyka

The University Committee for Research Ethics at the University of Opole approved the scientific project / Uczelniana Komisja ds. Etyki Badań Naukowych Uniwersytetu Opolskiego zaakceptowała badania (No. KEBN 63/2024).
The work described in this article has been carried out in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) on medical research involving human subjects, Uniform Requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals and the ethical principles defined in the Farmington Consensus of 1997.
Treści przedstawione w pracy są zgodne z zasadami Deklaracji Helsińskiej odnoszącymi się do badań z udziałem ludzi, ujednoliconymi wymaganiami dla czasopism biomedycznych oraz z zasadami etycznymi określonymi w Porozumieniu z Farmington w 1997 roku.

References/Piśmiennictwo