Impulsive Personality Research Articles

Analysis of personality traits in patients of road traffic accident (RTA) with special reference to motorcycle riders

BackgroundRoad traffic accidents (RTAs), in the current scenario, have taken the form of an epidemic. Developing countries are presently showing an increasing trend with respect to the number of vehicles and population. Personality characteristics are becoming a significant contributor in RTAs, owing to rising stress levels and varying circumstances. Patients and methodsA total of 250 cases and 210 controls of age >18 years were selected, as per criteria decided. After primary management and obtaining clearance from the institutional ethical committee, all enrolled subjects were assessed by International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE) – ICD 10 module screening questionnaire and analyzed for nine personality traits. ResultsOf all the cases enrolled, 72.8% were males. There were 81 motorcyclists out of 250 cases enrolled. Amongst all the motorcyclists encountering RTA, impulsive personality trait is found in 85.19% and histrionic trait was found in 82.72% of cases. DiscussionMotorcycle riders having impulsive and histrionic personality characteristics constitute 32.4% of RTA victims, attending orthopedics emergency unit at trauma center of a tertiary care center were, the presence of which was statistically significant.

Differential effects of social stress on laboratory-based decision-making are related to both impulsive personality traits and gender

Urgency is the tendency to make impulsive decisions under extreme positive or negative emotional states. Stress, gender and impulsive personality traits are all known to influence decision-making, but no studies have examined the interplay of all of these factors. We exposed 78 men and women to a stress or a non-stress condition, and then administered the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. We found that stress effects varied as a function of gender and urgency traits. Under stress, women low in negative urgency and men high in negative urgency made fewer risky decisions. Positive urgency yielded a similar pattern. Thus, decisions under stress depend on a complex interplay between gender and impulsive personality traits. These findings have implications for clinical disorders, such as substance use disorders, in which there are known deficits in decision-making and high levels of impulsive traits.

SY38-3 * SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN REWARD AND AVOIDANCE LEARNING IN OCD AND PROBLEM GAMBLERS

Learning to approach rewards (i.e., reward learning; RL) and to avoid punishers (i.e., avoidance learning; AL) is required to promote optimal responses and ensure our survival. For instance, AL is required in the face of basic threats (e.g., predators, rotten food), and when coupled with certain personality traits and decision-making patterns, also promotes optimal responses to more abstract threats in social (e.g., antagonists, competitors) and economic (e.g., risky investments) domains. However, difficulties or maladaptive patterns of AL and RL have been linked different forms of psychopathology. Indeed, AL is typically exaggerated in obsessive-compulsive disorder and reduced in substance and behavioural addictions (e.g., gambling), leading to differences in the anticipation and avoidance of aversive outcomes. In this talk, I will discuss the behavioural aspects of AL and RL (e.g., individual differences and temporal dynamics in learning from reward and punishment and prediction error) across OCD and problem gamblers using a newly developed task. I will then discuss how these individual differences are associated with the severity of the disorder, impulsive and compulsive personality tendencies, as well as fronto-striatal function.

SY13-2-2 * IMPULSITIVY PERSONALITY TRAITS AND GENE POLYMORPHISMS ASSOCIATED WITH HEROIN DEPENDENCE IN A SRI LANKAN POPULATION

We assessed the impulsivity personality traits and nineteen candidate polymorphisms of the GABA, opioid and dopamine pathways of the reward system in 157 Sinhalese, male dependent heroin users and 155 age- and ethnicity-matched extreme controls using direct, indirect and epistatic association analyses...

The role of impulsivity traits and delayed reward discounting in dysregulated eating and drinking among heavy drinkers

Impulsivity is a multifaceted construct that has been linked to dysregulated eating and problematic alcohol use. The UPPS model identifies five personality-based impulsivity traits that have unique predictive utility: Negative Urgency, Perseverance, Premeditation, Sensation Seeking, and Positive Urgency. Delayed reward discounting (DRD) is an index of impulsive decision making characterized by preference for smaller immediate gains at the cost of larger delayed gains. In the current study, we sought to refine the influence of impulsive personality traits and DRD on disordered eating patterns and problematic drinking. One hundred and eight treatment-seeking heavy drinkers were assessed for UPPS impulsivity traits, DRD, disordered eating, alcohol use, and demographic information. With regard to disordered eating patterns, DRD predicted higher levels of Dietary Restraint and Weight and Shape Concerns. Negative Urgency predicted binge eating and Weight and Shape Concerns. Positive Urgency predicted Eating Concerns. Female sex predicted Eating, Weight, and Shape Concerns. When considering problematic alcohol use, only Negative Urgency and Sensation Seeking were predictive. This is the first study to examine both personality-based impulsivity and DRD in relation to pathological eating and drinking behavior. The results suggest the importance of disentangling the contributions of various impulsivity constructs on dysregulated eating.

An Abbreviated Impulsiveness Scale (ABIS) Constructed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the BIS-11.

Impulsiveness is a personality trait that reflects an urge to act spontaneously, without thinking or planning ahead for the consequences of your actions. High impulsiveness is characteristic of a variety of problematic behaviors including attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, excessive gambling, risk-taking, drug use, and alcoholism. Researchers studying attention and self-control often assess impulsiveness using personality questionnaires, notably the common Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version 11 (BIS-11; last revised in 1995). Advances in techniques for producing personality questionnaires over the last 20 years prompted us to revise and improve the BIS-11. We sought to make the revised scale shorter - so that it would be quicker to administer - and better matched to current behaviors. We analyzed responses from 1549 adults who took the BIS-11 questionnaire. Using a statistical technique called factor analysis, we eliminated 17 questions that did a poor job of measuring the three major types of impulsiveness identified by the scale: inattention, spontaneous action, and lack of planning. We constructed our ABbreviated Impulsiveness Scale (ABIS) using the remaining 13 questions. We showed that the ABIS performed well when administered to additional groups of 657 and 285 adults. Finally, we showed expected relationships between the ABIS and other personality measurements related to impulsiveness, and showed that the ABIS can help predict alcohol consumption. We present the ABIS as a useful and efficient tool for researchers interested in measuring impulsive personality.

Dopamine D4 receptor gene variation influences self-reported altruism

Recent evidence suggests the implication of dopamine function in altruistic behaviors. For self-reported altruism, an association between the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) exon III polymorphism has been reported, but there have been no replication studies so far. In the present study, we provide such a replication by showing in two samples – one student sample and one drawn from the general population – that the DRD4 7-repeat allele is associated with lower scores on the NEO-PI-R Altruism facet scale, accounting for about 2% of the variance. As the DRD4 7-repeat allele has been associated with higher scores in impulsive personality traits and ADHD, our result suggests that individual differences in impulsive behavioral tendencies may play a role in the propensity to behave altruistically. Based on this assumption, the present result will be discussed within the context of a possible broader role of dopamine in altruistic behavior.

Interrelationships among individual differences in alcohol demand, impulsivity, and alcohol misuse.

An Alcohol Purchase Task (APT) is a novel behavioral economic measure for characterizing the incentive value of alcohol to an individual (i.e., alcohol demand). Individual differences in alcohol demand have been associated with a number of alcohol-related outcomes and the current investigation sought to extend these previous findings in a number of ways. The goals of the study were: (a) to examine the relationship between alcohol demand and alcohol misuse in a large sample of community adults; (b) to examine sex differences in alcohol demand; and, (c) to examine the relationship between alcohol demand and impulsive personality traits, both in general and as moderating variables. Participants (N = 720; 39% female) were adult smokers who reported drinking in the last year and were recruited from the community at large. All four behavioral economic indices of demand from the APT were significantly associated with alcohol misuse, with Omax and intensity uniquely associated in combined analyses. Males exhibited significantly higher demand, but these differences were largely eliminated after adjusting for drinks per week and other covariates. Trait levels of urgency, sensation-seeking and lack of premeditation were significantly associated with intensity and urgency was associated with Omax, but no moderating relationships were present. The significant relationships between aspects of impulsivity and the demand indices may signify a common process underlying disinhibition and demand for alcohol. These findings further support the relationship between indices of alcohol demand and alcohol misuse and a link between demand and impulsivity. Methodological considerations and future directions are discussed.

冲动性人格特质与自杀关系研究

冲动性作为一种突出的人格特质，影响着人类的思维与行为控制，冲动性人格也从不同程度影响着自杀的发生。目的：调查重庆市高中生自杀意念和自杀未遂概况，探讨冲动性人格特质与自杀意念强弱和自杀未遂的关系。方法：采取整群抽样调查法，抽取重庆市11所中学共计12,024名学生，应用中文版Barratt冲动性量表，自杀意念调查表，自杀未遂调查表对被试样本进行调查研究。结果：1) 重庆市高中生自杀意念得分5.80 ± 2.41；2) 重庆市高中生自杀未遂发生检出率为2.6%；3) 冲动性人格特质是自杀意念的重要影响因素；4) 冲动性人格特质是自杀未遂的预测因子。结论：冲动性人格特质能从不同程度预测自杀意念的强弱和自杀未遂的发生。 As a prominent personality, impulsivity affects the human mind and behavior controlling, and it also affects the occurrence of suicide. Objective: To survey overview of suicidal ideation and attempted suicide of high school students in Chongqing, and to discuss the relationship between impulsive personality traits and suicidal ideation, attempted suicide. Methods: The number of the total sample is 12,024, which is from 11 high schools of Chongqing. We use the Chinese version of Barratt Impulsivity Scale, the suicidal ideation scale, and the attempted suicide scale to survey the students. Result: 1) The suicidal ideation score of high school students in Chongqing is 5.80 ± 2.41; 2) Detection rate of attempted suicide occurred by 2.6%; 3) The impulsive personality traits are the important factor to suicidal ideation; 4) Impulsive personality traits are predictors of attempted suicide. Conclusions: The impulsive personality traits can forecast the strength of suicidal ideation and the attempted suicide from different degrees.

Teacher’s Personality: Reflected by Responding to the Environmental Stimuli Instead of Reacting

In psychological terms personality is defined as the particular combination of emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral response patterns of an individual. It is believed philosophically that the personality of an individual is determined by following factors namely: 1) freedom vs determinism, 2) heredity vs environment, 3) uniqueness vs universality, 4) activeness vs reactiveness, 5) optimism vs pessimism. The paper work focuses on finding how teacher’s personality is reflected by being intuitive that is responding to the external stimuli rather than reacting to it. A survey was conducted on a group of 100 B. Ed students in the age group of 23 to 40 years consisting of 60 females and 40 males. The personality determinant questionnaire prepared by H. J. Eysenck consists of 86 questions with the possibility of choosing only one answer to each of the questions. The result of the study indicated that 70% of the total population showed extraversion and impulsive personality trait.

The relationship between personality disorder and sleep quality in university students in China

Personality disorders formerly referred to as a class of personality types which deviate from the contemporary expectations of a society. Such a person has stable behavior models, which affect a range of significant functions in behavioral and psychological aspects. We aimed to evaluate the association between the personality disorder and the sleep and waking among university students in order to enhance undergraduates sleep quality as well as all around personality development. 615 freshmen aged 17–22 with a mean age of 19.69¡‘À1.182 (including 43.1% male and 56.6% female) were recruited from universities in Guangdong China, using stratified cluster sampling method. Two questionnaires were used: Personality Disorder Questionnaire for Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders C2-R (PDQC-CCMD C2-R) and Self-made Sleep Status Survey, which contained 3 items selecting from the Symptom Checklist 90(SCL-90), namely ¡‘®1.Trouble falling asleep¡‘ ¯, ¡‘®2.Awakening in the early morning¡‘ ¯, ¡‘®3. Sleep that is restless or disturbed¡‘ ¯. Pearson correlation analysis and independent-sample test were used for analysis. A modest but statistically significant correlation was reformed between item scores of ¡‘®1.Trouble falling asleep¡‘ ¯, ¡‘®2. Awakening in the early morning¡‘ ¯, ¡‘®3.Sleep that is restless or disturbed¡‘ ¯ and subtype scores of Paranoid personality disorder (PPD), Schizoid personality disorder (SPD), Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), Conduct disorder (CD), Histrionic personality disorder (HPD), Impulsive personality disorder (IPD), Anxious personality disorder (APD), Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), Dependent personality disorder (DPD)(p=.000-.042). The T -test revealed that there were significantly more trouble falling asleep, more awakening in the early morning and more restless or disturbed sleep in the group that had tendency of PPD (t1 = 3.746, p1 = .000; t2 = 3.015, p2 = .004; t3 = 4.212, p3 = .000), SPD (t1 = 4.120, p1 = .000; t2 = 1.014, p2=.319; t3 = 4.005, p3 = .000), HPD (t1 = 3.265, p1 = .001; t2 = 2.093, p2 = .038; t3 = 3.755, p3 = .000), IPD (t1 = 3.765,p1 = .000;t2 = 2.141,p2 = .035; t3 = 4.243, p3 = .000), APD (t1 = 2.977, p1 = .003; t2 = 2.918, p2 = .004; t3 = 3.769, p3 = .000) and DPD (t1 = 2.030, p1 = .043; t2 = 1.665,p2 = .098; t3 = 2.119, p3 = .035). Furthermore, there were significantly more trouble falling asleep and more restless or disturbed sleep in those who had tendency of OCPD (t1 = 2.173,p1 = .03; t3 = 2.806, p3 = .005) and more trouble falling asleep in those who had tendency of ASPD (t1 = 3.242, p1 = .001). Personality disorder has significant correlation with sleep quality. The more severe the tendency of personality disorder, the poorer the sleep quality. We should pay more attention to the sleep quality in the process of helping students who have a tendency toward personality disorders. This research was supported by Prof. Cao, Yiwei of Department of Psychology, Shenzhen University and a research partner Liu Ding.

Impulsivity and alcohol demand in relation to combined alcohol and caffeine use.

Problematic alcohol use among college students continues to be a prominent concern in the United States, including the growing trend of consuming caffeinated alcoholic beverages (CABs). Epidemiologically, CAB use is associated with incremental risks from drinking, although these relationships could be due to common predisposing factors rather than specifically due to CABs. This study investigated the relationship between CAB use, alcohol misuse, and person-level characteristics, including impulsive personality traits, delayed reward discounting, and behavioral economic demand for alcohol use. Participants were 273 regularly drinking undergraduate students. Frequency of CAB use was assessed over the past month. A multidimensional assessment of impulsivity included the UPPS-P questionnaire, which measures positive and negative urgency, premeditation (lack thereof), perseverance (lack thereof), and sensation seeking (Lynam, Smith, Whiteside, & Cyders, 2007), and a validated questionnaire-based measure of delayed reward discounting. Demand was assessed via a hypothetical alcohol purchase task. Frequency of CAB consumption was significantly higher in men than in women and was also associated with higher impulsivity on the majority of the UPPS-P subscales, steeper delayed reward discounting, and greater demand for alcohol. Significant correlations between CAB use and both alcohol demand and lack of premeditation remained present after including level of alcohol misuse in partial correlations. In a hierarchical linear regression incorporating demographic, demand, and impulsivity variables, CAB frequency continued to be a significant predictor of hazardous alcohol use. These results suggest that although there are significant associations between CAB consumption and gender, impulsivity, and alcohol demand, CAB use continues to be associated with alcohol misuse after controlling for these variables.

Interrelationships among impulsive personality traits, food addiction, and Body Mass Index

Objective: Impulsive personality traits have been robustly associated with alcohol and drug misuse, but have received little attention in the context of food addiction. The goal of the current study was to examine the interrelationships between impulsive personality traits, food addiction, and Body Mass Index (BMI), including indirect pathways of influence. Method: Participants (N=233) completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) to assess patterns of addictive consumption of food, the UPPS-P Impulsivity Scale to assess impulsive personality traits, and provided weight and height to generate BMI. Results: Significant positive associations were found between facets of impulsivity, food addiction symptoms, and BMI. Impulsivity was found to be indirectly associated with BMI by way of associations with addictive consumption of food. In particular, an inclination toward behaving irrationally while experiencing negative mood states (Negative Urgency) and low levels of task persistence (lack of Perseverance) were significantly associated with food addiction directly and that relationship was responsible for their relationship to BMI. Conclusions: Dispositional impulsivity, routinely associated with high-risk behaviors including addictive consumption of alcohol and drugs, may be an important risk factor when considering tendency to engage in addictive consumption of food. Monitoring food addiction symptoms early may help reduce the likelihood that compulsive food consumption patterns result in weight gain and obesity. Methodological considerations are discussed.

Simpson

Morris McCrae’s intriguing tale of James Simpson, the individual famous for introducing anesthesia to the world of obstetrics, will certainly keep you entertained. It is the most recent biography of this giant. It not only describes his innovative work in anesthesia but also casts it in a wider social context. Simpson was a driven yet quirky individual whose life had both highs and lows. McCrae begins the story with scenes of Simpson’s humble beginnings in rural Scotland in the 19th century. He describes a series of coincidences by which the exceedingly gifted young man made it to the prestigious University of Edinburgh and received a medical degree at the age of 21—the youngest age permitted by the school. Four years after receiving his degree, Simpson worked as an assistant to John Thompson, head of Pathology at Edinburgh, giving him the opportunity to travel around Europe and a new sense of self-confidence. Prestigious positions in the scientific community, as well as at Edinburgh, were tied closely to political regimes to which Simpson had no ties. Nevertheless, at 29, Simpson won the professorship of Midwifery at Edinburgh afteran uphill battle against many worthy competitors. Simpson used grassroots methods to garner political support of the public to win over the voting board at Edinburgh. After becoming a full staff member at Edinburgh, Simpson’s relationship with colleagues suffered while his relationship with patients and the community flourished. In short time, Simpson’s practice went from small and meager to large and sophisticated serving the upper echelons of society, including Queen Victoria. McCrae paints Simpson as a practitioner who always went the extra step to care for his patients’ best interests physically and emotionally. Simpson’s love for his patients is what fueled his search for an additional anesthetic agent to replace the available, but difficult to administer, ether. On November 4, 1847, Simpson found chloroform, which proved to be more potent, faster acting, and easier to administer than ether. Excited about his findings, Simpson conducted 50 trials, spoke at a lecture, and published a pamphlet, Account of a New Anaesthetic Agent as a Substitute for Sulphuric Ether in Surgery and Midwifery, to garner public support all within the first week of discovery. Simpson was driven to use it to relieve pain during childbirth and other gynecological surgeries. The book discusses the interesting mid-19th century European opposition to the use of anesthesia. Religious opposition made claim that the Bible intended women to suffer through childbirth and it would be a sin to do otherwise. Some medical colleagues claimed that the pain of surgery assisted patients in their healing process, and so, pain was a necessary evil. Additionally, some felt that chloroform should be tested further before general use was permitted. As a testament to Simpson’s compassion for his patients’ traumatic, painful operations, and his gutsy, impulsive personality, he did eventually move forward with the use of chloroform for childbirth and made his mark on the history of medicine doing so. McCrae’s research presented in this biography includes detailed information about events of the mid-1800s that directly, or indirectly, involved Simpson, His discussion of Richard Hutton’s and Charles Darwin’s Theories of Uniformitarianism and Evolution offered information about Simpson’s contemporaries. It was interesting to learn that Simpson dabbled in other areas of medicine at times, including a publication dedicated to cholera. The book was an absolute page-turner and one that I would recommend to others interested in medicine, as well the history of advances in medicine. McCrae captured Simpson as a driven man who had the utmost compassion for his patients. Davita Mabourakh, BS College of Arts and Sciences University of Miami Miami, Florida Michael Lewis, MD Department of Anesthesiology University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Miami, Florida [email protected]

67. Aggressive and impulsive personality traits and inflammatory markers in cerebrospinal fluid and serum: Are they interconnected?

Background: Accumulating evidence supports an intricate relationship between central nervous system inflammation, stress and personality. There are, however, few studies addressing this relationship in non-psychiatric populations. Objective: To investigate the relationship between inflammatory markers in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and personality traits reflecting impulsivity, aggression and self-regulation, respectively, in patients about to go through peripheral surgery. Methods: 35 patients undergoing knee arthroplastics had CSF and serum samples drawn before surgery. These samples were analyzed for cytokine and cortisol concentrations. Before arriving at the hospital, 26 subjects had filled in one or both of two personality assessment questionnaires: the Temperament and Character Inventory and the Karolinska Scales of Personality. Results: A significant positive correlation was found between Verbal Aggression and CSF IL-10, while Novelty Seeking was negatively correlated with CSF cortisol. Inhibited Aggression was negatively correlated with CSF Il-10, while Self-directedness was negatively correlated to serum concentrations of IL-10 and interferon-gamma. Conclusion: Levels of some biomarkers related to inflammatory activation co-varied with personality traits related to impulsivity, aggression and, inversely, self-regulation and behavioural control, in this non-psychiatric study group. Correlations were overall modest and about equal for serum and CSF concentrations of the biomarkers. Further studies are warranted given the limited statistical power of the present small study group.

Role of Impulsivity and Other Personality Dimensions in Attempted Suicide with Self-Poisoning among Children and Adolescents

The objective of this study was to clarify the role of impulsivity and personality dimensions in attempted suicide among youth. The study included 120 youths who attempted suicide and 100 matched controls. Attempters of suicide had higher total scores and subscales of impulsivity than controls. They had higher novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and reward dependence scores, lower scores on persistence, self-directedness, and cooperativeness. A total of 77.5% of suicide attempters had psychiatric disorders compared to 2% of controls. Main factors predicting the occurrence of suicidal attempts were the presence of psychiatric disorder, impulsivity, stressful life events, and high reward dependence of suicide attempters. The study supports that impulsivity and personality traits play an important role in youth suicide independently or as a part of other interacting factors.

Impulsivity, Expectancies, and Evaluations of Expected Outcomes as Predictors of Alcohol Use and Related Problems

Background: While the association between outcome expectancies and drinking is well documented, few studies have examined whether evaluations of expected outcomes (outcome evaluations) moderate that association. Objectives: The present study tested the hypotheses that outcome evaluations moderate the outcome expectancy-drinking association and that outcome expectancies mediate the association between impulsive personality and drinking. Methods: College students (N = 201; 55.5% female) enrolled in a mid-sized metropolitan university completed measures assessing outcome expectancies and evaluations, alcohol consumption, and drinking-related problems. Results: Consistent with study hypotheses, expectation of negative outcomes predicted lower levels of drinking, but only when these outcomes were evaluated as highly aversive. However, impulsivity was found to be a far stronger predictor of both drinking and related problems than were outcome expectancies or evaluations. Conclusion: The association between negative expectancy and drinking was moderated by negative evaluation, such that individuals who both expected that negative outcomes were likely to occur and who judged such outcomes as highly undesirable consumed significantly fewer drinks per week. Impulsivity was found to be a strong predictor of both alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems.

Relapse in pathological gamblers: A pilot study on the predictive value of different impulsivity measures.

Backgrounds and aims Pathological gambling, a common psychiatric disorder, has many similarities with substance use disorders. Relapse, an important element in addictive disorders, however, has seldom been studied in pathological gambling. Hence, in analogy with previous research studies examining the role of self-report and neurocognitive measures on relapse in substance dependent patients, the present pilot study was executed. Methods Twenty-two pathological gamblers and 31 healthy controls took part in this research. They filled in self-report questionnaires measuring impulsive personality (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaires) and performed neurocognitive tasks measuring impulsivity, decision-making and attentional bias (Iowa Gambling Task, Delay Discounting Task, Stroop Gambling Task). Twelve months later gambling activity was re-examined. Results Analyses showed that PGs who relapsed (n = 13) did not differ on self-report and neurocognitive measures of impulsivity with PGs who did not relapse (n = 9). However, both groups did differ in age at onset. Finally, healthy controls and PGs differed in some (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Stroop Gambling Task), but not all impulsivity measures (Delay Discounting Task, Iowa Gambling Task, Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaires). Conclusions One-year relapse in pathological gamblers is not predicted by self-report and or neurocognitive measures of impulsivity and decision-making. The similarities in performances between pathological gamblers and healthy controls illustrate the relative health of the examined pathological gamblers. This last finding supports the idea that subtypes of pathological gamblers exist so that different treatment strategies might be necessary.

Impulsivity and Substance Use in Young Adulthood

Although the significant role of impulsive personality on substance use has been widely documented, distinct aspects of impulsivity and their relation to substance use during young adulthood have received scant attention. We sought to fill this research gap and explored impulsivity subtraits in relation to hazardous drinking and illicit substance use in young adulthood. The present study used cross-sectional survey data collected from a community sample of 257 young adults aged 18-25 (53% female). Data were primarily analyzed by three different types of regression models. We found impulsivity to be more strongly associated with illicit substance use than hazardous drinking during young adulthood. Among the four impulsivity subtraits examined, lack of premeditation (p < .01) and sensation seeking (p < .05) were significantly related to illicit substance use in young adulthood. These findings suggest that each impulsivity subtrait might play different roles in illicit substance use during young adulthood. For young adults, assessment of differential patterns of impulsive personality in individuals with substance use problems may have important implication for treatment strategies.

A Narrative Review of Binge Eating and Addictive Behaviors: Shared Associations with Seasonality and Personality Factors

Binge-eating disorder and seasonal affective disorder were first described as clinically relevant conditions in very close temporal proximity a few decades ago. Both disorders have a higher prevalence rate in woman than in men, are characterized by a high proneness-to-stress and manifest heightened responsiveness to high-calorie, hyper-palatable foods. In recent years, a compelling body of evidence suggests that foods high in sugar and fat have the potential to alter brain reward circuitry in a manner similar to that seen when addictive drugs like alcohol and heroin are consumed in excess. These findings have led to suggestions that some cases of compulsive overeating may be understood as an addiction to sweet, fatty, and salty foods. In this paper, it is proposed that high seasonality is a risk factor for binge eating, especially in those characterized by anxious and impulsive personality traits – associations that could only occur in an environment with a superfluity of, and easy access to, rich and tasty foods. Given the well-established links between binge eating and addiction disorders [Ref. (1–3) for reviews], it is also suggested that seasonality, together with the same high-risk psychological profile, exacerbates the likelihood of engaging in a broad range of addictive behaviors. Data from a community sample (n = 412) of adults tested these models using linear regression procedures. Results confirmed that symptoms of binge eating and other addictive behaviors were significantly inter-correlated, and that seasonality, gender, and addictive personality traits were strong statistical predictors of the variance in binge-eating scores. Seasonality and addictive personality traits also accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in the measure of addictive behaviors. Conclusions are discussed in the context of brain reward mechanisms, motivational alternations in response to chronic over-consumption, and their relevance for the treatment of excessive appetitive behaviors.