 6. Temperament  155
stance use with both N/NE and E/PE. For 
example, in a large ( N = 901) college stu -
dent sample, alcohol use correlated .44 with 
DvC, –.04 with N/NE, and .05 with E/PE 
(Watson & Clark, 1993, Table 23.4). Cor -
relations with use of marijuana, cigarettes, 
psychedelics, and caffeine pills ranged from 
.23 to .33 for DvC, but were all less than .10 
for N/NE and E/PE.
Two additional large-  sample replications 
of these data are reported in Table 6.3, along 
with data from two other samples. Samples 
1 and 2 used a slightly modified version 
of the inventory described by Watson and 
Clark (1993); the substance-  use variables 
from this inventory are aggregations of mul -
tiple items that assess both frequency and 
quantity of use. Sample 3 participants com -
pleted an abbreviated version of the survey 
in which all substances other than alcohol 
were assessed with single items. Sample 4 is 
the same Sample 4 whose prospective, lon -
gitudinal data are presented in Table 6.2. 
The alcohol-use variable is the percentage 
of days on which students reported drinking 
alcohol. Only correlations with DvC and its 
subscales, Carefree Orientation and Antiso -
cial Behavior, are shown in Table 6.3, be -
cause all correlations with N/NE and E/PE 
hover around zero.
In the college student population, it ap -
pears that use of alcohol, which is quite wide -
spread despite its general illegality in this 
age group (Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, 
Moeykens, & Castillo, 1994), is associated 
more strongly with a carefree than an an -
tisocial lifestyle (in FFM terms, with low 
C more than low A). This relation emerges 
most clearly when the usage variable repre -
sents pure frequency of use (Sample 4). Col -
lege students who “just want to have fun” 
turn to drink on many occasions. Similarly, 
cigarette use (which itself is correlated with 
alcohol use) is nonsignificantly more related 
to a carefree than to an antisocial lifestyle. 
By contrast, use of substances that are ille -
gal regardless of age (e.g., marijuana, psy -
chedelics, or “any nonalcohol substance” 
[Sample 3]), as well as substance use-  related 
problems, are somewhat more indicative of 
an antisocial lifestyle. Although few of these 
differences were statistically significant, the 
consistency of the pattern is noteworthy. 
However, it is unclear whether this pat -tern will generalize to samples that include 
a significant proportion of individuals with 
serious, chronic alcohol use, in which case 
stronger correlations with antisocial behav -
ior might be expected. Relatedly, criminal 
behavior is consistently related to low con -
scientiousness and agreeableness (i.e., high 
DvC) (Ozer & Benet-Martínez, 2006; Soto, 
2019).
Promiscuous sexual behavior also has 
been shown to be related to DvC (e.g., Wat -
son & Clark, 1993; Zuckerman, Tushup, & 
Finner, 1976). For example, in the Watson 
and Clark (1993) dataset, sexual behavior 
(e.g., number of sex partners in the past 
year) was correlated with DvC ( r = .37) but 
not with either N/NE or E/PE ( r’s = –.02 
and –.01, respectively). Additional data—
again, only for DvC and its subscales—  are 
reported in Table 6.4. Samples 1–3 are the 
same as those reported in Table 6.4; Sample 
4 (Haig, 1997) is another large ( N = 408) 
college sample that completed a modified 
TABLE 6.4.  Correlations of Disinhibition and Its 
Subscales with Sexual Behavior
Item/sample DvC CO AB
Number of Sexual Partners in the Past Year
1. .30 .19 .34
2. .30 .19 .31
4. .22 .14 .20
Positive Attitudes toward Casual Sexa
3. .45 .28 .45
4. .43 .26 .45
Variety of Sexual Partners (7-item scale)
3. .32 .20 .33
Risky Sexual Behavior (4-item scale)
3. .32 .22 .33
Note . DvC, Disinhibition versus Constraint; CO, Care -
free Orientation; AB, Antisocial Behavior. Sample 1 N = 
638. Sample 2 N = 827. Sample 3 N = 197. See Watson 
and Clark (1993) for details regarding method, which 
were identical for Studies 1 and 2 and slightly modified 
for Sample 3. Sample 4 (Haig, 1997), N = 408; see text 
for details. The larger of the two subscale correlations is 
in boldface ; if the difference between them is significant, 
it is also underlined .
aEight-item scale in Sample 3; three-item scale in Sample 
4.