To address whether changes in personality and problematic alcohol involvement are significantly related to one another, the correlation between the latent slopes was examined (see Figure 1). A significant correlation between the two slopes indicates that changes in personality relate to changes in problematic alcohol involvement. The correlation coefficients between the respective slopes of impulsivity and neuroticism and the slope of the problematic alcohol involvement construct were positive and significant (see Table 6), indicating that changes in impulsivity and neuroticism across time correspond to changes in problematic alcohol involvement. The magnitude of these significant correlations ranged from .39 to .42, roughly indicating medium effect sizes (Cohen, 1988). However, the correlation coefficient between the slope of extraversion and the slope of the alcohol involvement construct was nonsignificant (see Table 6), indicating that changes in extraversion across time do not correspond to changes in problematic alcohol involvement.
