MASC (Multifactorial Approach to Substance Consumption) project:

Since 1999, when the IDAP research team was created grouping interests and efforts of various psychology researches at Universitat Jaume I, we focused on the study of personality from a biodispositional approach. Thus, we have adapted different biologically based personality questionnaires to our sociocultural context. We have also carried out studies on homologous behaviours of human personality traits in laboratory animal models.

Currently, we are investigating the etiological role of different genes and environmental variables on personality traits. Furthermore, we are interested in exploring the influence of basic personality traits in various life outcomes, especially in health and psychological disorders. To this end, we developed two prospective longitudinal studies. The first one started with adolescents in the first year of Compulsory Secondary Education (aged 12) and followed them during 7 years. In the second is a 5-year follow-up study of mostly university students. In both studies we gathered biological samples in order to analyse different genetic polymorphisms. In addition to personality, we measured different psychological and social variables specifically related to alcohol (such as drinking motives, peer’s alcohol use or family history of alcoholism) and other drugs use. Moreover, unspecific factors related to different psychological disorders were also assessed, such as childhood maltreatment, negative life events or intelligence, among others.

The MASC project is focused in the study of alcohol and other drugs use. Nonetheless, we are also involved in the study of personality disorders, and internalizing and externalizing syndromes. These psychological problems are closely related to personality and clear examples of the importance of a dimensional approach to psychopathology.