Assesment of the relations between sociodemographical, clinical features and migration among opioid addicts

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the personality traits, sociodemographical and clinical features of opioid addicts and to consider how migration affects those features. Method: This study is conducted as descriptive and cross-sectional design at Drug and Alcohol Addiction Research and Practice Center of Akdeniz University Hospital (AMBAUM). Data is collected from patients aged between 18-39 years who are admitted to the outpatient and inpatient clinics and diagnosed with opioid addiction according to DSM-IV-TR, together with healthy volunteers who are matched with patients in terms of age, gender and educational status. Patient group consists of 69 subjects; 39 of the subjects were migrated from other cities to Antalya whereas 30 of them were native residents. Control group consists of 61 volunteers; 33 of them were migrated whereas 28 of them were native residents. Materials of data collection are sociodemographical and clinical inquiry form which are developed by researchers specifically and applied by researchers in addition to Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), a 240-item, self-report, paper-and-pencil test, and true-false format inventory based on Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality. The collected data is analysed statistically by PASW/18 (SPSS/IBM, Chicago, IL). Findings: Higher rates of novelty seeking trait among opioid addicts is detected compared to volunteers. Quite high percentages (97.4%) of migrant opioid addicts were second generation migrants. It is also determined that regular out-patient clinics examinations, past history of hospitalization and higher level of education obviously extend the period of remission. Results: To have a novelty seeking trait and be a second generation migrant are both increase the risk of substance use disorder which should be considered in case of fight against drug addiction