One component of a comprehensive model concerns individual differences in personality-based risk. There have been recent advances in understanding the personality contribution to risk; this report describes the first longitudinal study to apply these advances to test new, specific theories of the operation of individual differences on particular drinking behaviors during the critical first year of college. To introduce the study, we review the severity and topography of U.S. college student drinking, the centrality of personality factors during the transition into college, and these personality theory advances; we then present the specific hypotheses that drove this investigation. To anticipate: we believe sensation seeking uniquely predicts the frequency of drinking, whereas the tendency to engage in rash acts when experiencing extremely positive mood states uniquely predicts the quantity of consumption and alcohol-related problems.
