PLATELET MONOAMINE-OXIDASE ACTIVITY AND TEMPERAMENT AND PERSONALITY IN ADOLESCENT FEMALE SUBSTANCE-ABUSERS

Platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activities were compared between female adolescent substance abusers and normal control females. No differences were observed on this biochemical trait. The two groups were discriminable on psychosocial, and behavioral adjustment, personality traits measuring aggression, self control, and stress reactivity, and on the temperament constellations of difficult temperament index, dysrythmicity, and difficult affective temperament. Platelet MAO activity was associated with difficult affective temperament only in the substance abuse group but not in the controls, suggesting that this temperament variant and lower MAO activities may comprise one form of predisposition to substance abuse.