Some evidence suggests individual differences in personality moderate individual responses to alcohol. Laboratory studies examining individual differences in the stress-dampening effects of alcohol (Levenson, Oyama, & Meek, 1987; Sher & Levenson, 1982) found that individuals characterized by outgoing, aggressive, impulsive, and antisocial characteristics had pronounced stress-response-dampening effects from alcohol, suggesting that these individuals may find alcohol consumption to be especially reinforcing. Similarly, individuals high in anxiety sensitivity, a “cognitive, individual difference variable characterized by a fear of arousal-related bodily sensations such as dizziness, trembling, and racing heartbeat” (Stewart & Kushner, 2001, p. 775), also demonstrate marked anxiolytic effects to alcohol (e.g., Conrod, Pihl, & Vassileva, 1998; MacDonald, Baker, Stewart, & Skinner, 2000; Stewart & Pihl, 1994; see Stewart & Kushner, 2001; Stewart, Samoluk, & MacDonald, 1999).
