British Journal of Addiction, 12 (\911) 135-141. Longman. Printed in Great Britain.

Drug Use and Four Kinds ofNovelty-seeking*

Paul M. Kohn and Helen M. AnnisAddiction Research Foundation, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

AbstractA modified version of Pearson's Novelty Experiencing Scale and her Desire-for-Novelty Scale were administered to 430students along with questions about drug use. The data were analyzed by partitioning of X^ for sex, scale score and druguse. The internal sensation-seeking measure related to the use of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis - but not painkillers. Therelationship between internal sensation-seeking and cannabis use occurred among the males only. It was concluded thatinternal sensation-seeking is important in the motivation for drug use, and that social norms, including sexuallydiscriminatory ones, also probably play a role.

IntroductionThere is a lot of evidence suggesting that drug use is related to an exaggerated tendencyto seek extensive novel experience. Drug use, like sexual activity, has been viewedtheoretically as, in part, an expression of a need for varied experience (Zuckerman,Neary and Brustman, 1970). The strength of this need is seen as reflecting anindividual's optimum level of physiological arousal and external stimulation(Zuckerman, 1969; Zuckerman, Bone, Neary, Mangelsdorff and Brustman, 1972).

Early evidence for this formulation showed that tobacco-smoking, coffee-drinking,and use of caffeine pills were associated with patterns of response to the M.M.P.I.suggestive of arousal seeking (Schubert, 1964, 1965). More recently, Zuckerman andhis associates (Zuckerman, 1972; Zuckerman e< a/., 1970; Zuckerman f<fl/.̂ 1972) foundvarious types of drug use (e.g. marijuana, hashish, amphetamines, and LSD) to relateto high scores on Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS); however, not allrelationships were consistent over sex and education level. Segal and Rose (1972) alsoreported more drinkers, more frequent drinkers, and more problem drinkers amonghigh than low scorers on the SSS. On the other hand, Kish and Busse (1968, 1969)failed to find reliable differences between hospitalized male alcoholics and comparison,groups composed of hospital employees, although the appropriateness of theircomparisons might be questioned.

Pearson (1970) has recently developed a new measure of novelty-seeking, theNovelty Experiencing Scale (NES). This measure is based on Fiske's (1966a, 1966b)approach to personality assessment. Fiske has argued that it is most useful to analyzeglobal concepts into more molecular constituents and construct items to reflect thelatter. Accordingly Pearson's (1970) NES purports to measure four subconstructs:external sensation-seeking (ES), a liking for active participation in "thrilling" activities;internal cognitive experience-seeking (IC), a liking for new or unusual cognitive processeswhich deal with explanatory principles and cognitive schemes; internal sensation-seeking(IS), a liking for unusual dreams, fantasies, or internally generated feelings; 2inA external

' The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Carol Watson, Penny Liban and Judith Groeneveld in thevarious stages of data collection and analysis. Requests for offprints should be sent to Paul M. Kohn, Dept. ofPsychology, York University, Downsview, Ontario, M3J 1P3.

136 p. M. Kohn and H. M. Annis

cognitive experience-seeking (EC), a liking for new cognitive information which haspractical applicability.

The rehabihty and validity of Pearson's scales have been found to be more thanadequate, and their intercorrelations are low enough to justify the conceptualdistinctions on which they are based (Pearson, 1970, 1971). A study by Kohn andAnnis (1975), furthermore, refiects favourably on the validity of the shghtly modifiedversion of the NES which was used in the present study.

The purpose of this study is to provide more specific information on the kinds ofexperience-seeking which relate to alcohol and other drug use. That is, the roles ofexternal sensation-seeking, internal cognitive experience-seeking, internal sensation-seeking, and external cognitive experience-seeking are all examined. The fact thatinternal sensations are most directly affected by psychotropic drugs suggests a centralrole for the internal sensation factor. And, indeed, Segal (1974; Segal and Feger, 1973)has found marijuana users to be more receptive to fantasy than non-users. The frequentself-attribution of curiosity as a motive for initiating drug use (e.g. Cross and Keir,1971;Keeler, 1969; Mizner, Barter and Werme, 1970; Rouse and Ewing, 1972) impliesthat internal cognitive experience-seeking may also be important. And the element ofrisk taking in much drug use (Ewing, Rouse and Keeler, 1970) suggests a role for thrill-oriented, external sensation-seeking.

The data collected in this study are analyzed by a method, partitioning ofZ^ (Winer, 1962), which allows one to test the possibihty of complex interactionsamong sex, experience seeking, and drug use. Such a possibihty is suggested byZuckerman's finding of sex differences in the predictive value of the SSS and itsfactorially derived subscales in predicting various kinds of drug use (Zuckerman, 1972;ZucktrxnanetaL, 1972). It is also supported by Kish and Donnenwerth's (1972) findingof sex differences in the correlation of the SSS with measures of intelligence,authoritarianism, and dogmatism.

Method

The 80-item modified Novelty Experiencing Scale, the 10-item Desire-for-NoveltyScale (Pearson, 1970), demographic questions, and questions about the use of alcoholand other drugs were administered to 430 Grade i2 students from three northernOntario high schools (232 females and 198 males). Administration occurred in groupsessions during regular classroom hours. As this study was part of a longitudinalprogram, all questionnaires were coded in order to permit identification of therespondent. Recent evidence suggests that anonymity versus identifiability on drugquestionnaires has little effect on subjects' i-esponses (King, 1972).

The modified Novelty Experiencing Scale has been described elsewhere (Kohnand Annis, 1975). Briefiy, each item singly describes an activity or experience refiectingone of the four classes of experience-seeking. The subject's task is simply to indicate on atwo-point scale whether he or she would expect to like or dislike the activity orexperience.

The Desire-For-Novelty Scale (DFN) consists of ten items expressing a desire fornew experiences and boredom with the status quo. The response alternatives for thisscale are "like me" and "unlike me".

Finally, a series of items questioned subjects about their frequency of use (if any) ofthe following drugs over the preceding six months: tobacco, painkilling drugs (aspirins.

Drug Use: Eour Kinds of Novelty-seeking 1S7

222's, etc.), alcohol, barbiturates, tranquillizers, glue, other solvents, marijuana andhashish, "speed', other stimulants (e.g. pep pills), opiates, LSD, and otherhallucinogens. Analyses will be reported for alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, and painkillersonly, as these were the only substances used by enough subjects to permit analysis.

ResultsThe scale intercorrelations for ES, IC, IS, EC, and DFN were sufficiently low (0.05

to 0.56 for males; —0.08 to 0.48 for females) to justify conceptual distinction andseparate analyses. (For full details, see Kohn and Annis, 1975.) For each scale, andeach drug (alcohol, cannabis, tobacco and painkillers), a three-dimensionalpartitioning of J^ was performed (Winer, 1962). This mode of analysis yielded termslor the following interactions: Sex x Drug, Sex x Scale, Scale x Drug, and Sex xScale X Drug. Subjects' scores on each scale were designated as high, medium, or lowbased on the third of the observed frequency distribution into which their individualscores fell. The analyses for tobacco and painkillers simply distinguished users and non-users. However, the analyses for alcohol and cannabis involved three categories, "nouse", "occasional use", and "regular use" The definitions of occasional use andregular use were up to once a week on the average, and more than once a weekrespectively for alcohol; and up to once a month, and more than once a monthrespectively for cannabis. The results of these analyses appear below.

Sex and Drug Use

As has been commonly reported in the literature (e.g. Mercer and Smart, 1974;Rosenberg, Kasl, and Berberian, 1974), very pronounced sex differences occurred inthe use of both alcohol and cannabis. More males than females reported beingoccasional and regular users of alcohol {X^ = 12-01, df — 2,/)<0-005) and cannabis{X^ = 24-39,rff= 2,/)<0-001).Nocomparabledifferences were found fortobacco andpainkillers.

Sex and Novelty-Seeking

Significant sex differences in scale score occurred with the external sensation,internal cognitive, and desire-for-novelty measures. Males scored higher than femalesonES(Jf2 ^24-33,(//"=2,/'<0-001),butloweronIC(Z2 = 7-31,/)<0-05), andDFN{X^ = 5-87,/><0-05).

Novelty-Seeking and Drug Use

Total scores on the Novelty Experiencing Scale bore no significant relationship toany of the categories of drug use. Three subscales, i.e., IS, EC, and IC, as well as theDesire-for-Novelty Scale, did, however, relate to one or more type of drug use. Thesignificant results involving alcohol, tobacco, and painkillers (all Scale x Druginteractions) appear in Table 1, while the only major finding for cannabis, a Sex xScale X Drug interaction, appears in Table 2.

There were significant associations between alcohol use and scores on internalsensation ( ^ = 10-71, ^ = 4,/;<0-05) and external cognition (Z^ = 12-68,/xO-Ol).Both relationships were complex in that medium IS-scorers were over-represented, andmedium EC-scorers were under-represented among regular users of alcohol.

138 p. M. Kohn and H. M. Annis

Table 1. Observed Frequency Distributions of All Significant Drug x Novelty-Seeking Scale ScoreRelationships for Alcohol, Tobacco and Painkillers.

Drug

AlcoholNo UseOccasionalRegular

TobaccoNo UseUse

PainkillersNo UseUse

Novelty experiencing or

Internal sensation

Low

219113

7253

-

• Med

219637

6688

-

High

1610926

6685

:

Desire-for-Novelty measure

External cognitive

Low

158133

-

-

Med High

18 25118 9717 26

-

Internal cognitive

Low Med High

- - -

- - -

46 25 3387 111 128

Desire-for-Novelty

Low Med High

- ^ -

68 67 6953 94 79

- - -

Note: Blank entries represent the observed frequencies for nonsignificant relationships.

In the case of tobacco, the significant effects involved internal sensation {X^ = 7-32,df •= 2, p<0-05) and desire-for-novelty {X^ = 5-95, p<0-05). Medium and highscorers on the internal sensation measure were more frequently smokers than lowscorers {X^ = 6-00, df = \,p<0-025; and X^ = 5-28,/)<0-025 respectively). Also,tnedium scorers on the Desire-for-Novelty Scale were more often smokers than lowscorers {X^ = 5-89,/><0-025).

The one significant Scale x Drug Interaction involving painkillers was for theinternal cognitive scale {X^ — 11-54, df — 2, j&<0-005). High and medium scorers onIC reported use of painkillers more often than low scorers (A^ = 7-36, df= 1,/xO-Ol;and X^ = 9-09,/)<0-005 respectively).

Finally, for cannabis there were two significant effects involving internal sensation:the Scale X Drug interaction (Z^ = 11-98, <//"= 4,/)<0-025) and the Sex x Scale xDrug interaction {X^ = 12-06, df = A, /><0-025). It turned out that cannabis use

Table 2. Observed Frequency Distribution for Significant Sex x Internal Sensation x CannabisRelationship

Cannabis nse

No useOccasionalRegular

Internal

Male

Low

5077

sensation

Medium

511015

High

232015

Female

Low

55%.

2

Medium

60126

High

7?106

Drug Use: Four Kinds of Novelty-seeking 139

related positively to internal sensation-seeking for the males {X — 22-33, df = A, p<0-001), while no such relationship occurred with the females {X^ — 4-28, NS).

DiscussionAccording to Zuckerman (1972, p. 161), "drug usage is an aspect of a general

sensation seeking trait rather than a specific type of sensation seeking". The presentresults fail to support this assertion. Ofthe twenty possible relationships between fivemeasures of novelty seeking and four types of drug use only six proved significant.Furthermore, three of these involved a particular kind of novelty seeking, namelyinternal sensation-seeking. Thus, drug use seems to be associated specifically with ahigh optimum level for particular kinds of stimulation, namely the stimulation offantasy, internally generated feelings, and unusual perceptual experiences. Theapparent importance of this specific kind of stimulation is consistent with other recentfindings (Segal, 1974; Segal and Feger, 1973).

It is perhaps surprising that no significant relationship occurred between theexternal sensation measure and any category of drug use. Pearson (1970) had foundthat ES was the only one of her subscales to relate substantially to Zuckerman'sSensation Seeking Scale. And, as we have seen, Zuckerman (1972; Zuckerman et al.,1970; Zuckerman e/fl/., 1972) did find scores on the SSS to predict various forms of druguse. The explanation may be that Pearson used an early version of the SSS(Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, and Zoob, 1964), whereas Zuckerman and his associatesused a later version (Zuckerman, 1971). According to Pearson (1970, p. 203), itemsreflecting internal sensation-seeking were relatively poorly represented in the versionshe used. Thus, the apparent predictive value of the current SSS for drug use mayreflect its increased internal-sensation content relative to the early version.

The relationships between internal sensation-seeking and drug use provedcomplex. In the case of cannabis, use was associated with high IS scores for males only.The extremely low rate of cannabis use by female relative to males suggests a possibleexplanation: that the use of marijuana and hashish is so counternormative for femalehigh-school students in the sampled community that the proscriptive norms overrideany predisposition to use these drugs in most cases. Such predispositions reflect internalsensation-seeking in considerable part, and are rather freely expressed by the malestudents who are subject to less severe norms.

In the case of tobacco, there was no evident sex difference in the relationshipbetween IS score and use. It appeared, however, that, while low IS scorers wereunderrepresented among smokers, there was no difference in smoking frequencybetween medium- and high-IS scorers. This finding also can be interpreted in terms ofsocial norms. The use of tobacco is widely accepted (mass media campaigns for acontrary outcome, notwithstanding). Thus, even moderate internal sensation-seekersshould feel few social inhibitions about using this drug. Furthermore, sex-biased normsagainst female smoking have declined markedly (if not disappeared), as one cigarettecompany pointedly notes in its advertising.

The most puzzling relationship for the internal sensation measure is that withalcohol. It is specifically medium-IS scorers who are most often regular drinkers. Theremay be two factors at play here. One is the relatively high social acceptability of alcohol(which appears, however, to be discriminatorily lower for females). The other possiblefactor is that the particular kinds of internal sensation associated with alcohol may notbe sufficiently attractive to sustain regular use by high internal sensation-seekers.

140 P. M. Kohn and H. M. Annis

Support for this interpretation appears in the findings that, while moderate intake ofalcohol alleviates anxiety and depression, and stimulates fantasy involving meaningcontrasts, heavier intake reverses these salutary effects (Kalin, McClelland, and Kahn,1965; Wilhams, 1966).

To conclude, the present study examined correlationally the role of four kinds ofnovelty-seeking plus the general desire-for-novelty in the motivation for drug use. Theresults suggested that it is specifically the disposition to seek novel forms of internalsensation which is important in drug use.

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