Different drugs of abuse, including stimulants, sedatives, and hallucinogens have psychopharmacological specificity (i.e., distinct effects on the brain and body). According to the self-medication hypothesis, individuals use drugs that specifically relieve their core psychopathological symptoms. Prior research demonstrates that callous-unemotional (CU) traits (i.e., a lack of guilt or empathy, disregard for others’ feelings, and shallow affect) and trait anxiety (i.e., predisposition to respond to various situations with anxiety) are both related to increased risk for adolescent substance abuse. However, little is known about how specific maladaptive traits may affect substance use choices.

The current study addressed this knowledge gap by leveraging data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, a study of juvenile offenders (N=1354, 13.5% female, mean enrollment age=15.9), to assess whether 1) we could distinguish different classes of youth by their substance use choices and 2) whether CU traits and trait anxiety differentially predict specific substance use class membership. First, we found that a 2-group model (low substance use versus high substance use) showed the best fit to the data. Second, we found that neither CU traits, anxiety, nor their interaction significantly predicted substance use class membership. However, poor impulse control, deviant peer association, and race (i.e., white, Hispanic) were significant predictors. These findings suggest that other variables (such as impulse control) may serve as more effective targets for intervention efforts and precision treatments for substance abuse.