Impulsivity is a core feature of many psychiatric disorders. Traditionally, impulsivity has been assessed using retrospective questionnaires or laboratory tasks. Both approaches neglect intraindividual variability in impulsivity and do not capture impulsivity as it occurs in real-world settings. The goal of the current study was to provide a method for assessing impulsivity in daily life that provides both between-individual and within-individual information. Participants with borderline personality disorder (BPD; n = 67) or a depressive disorder (DD; n = 38) carried an electronic diary for 28 days and responded to 9 impulsivity items up to 6 times per day. Item distributions and iterative exploratory factor analysis (EFA) results were examined to select the items that best captured momentary impulsivity. A brief 4-item scale was created that can be used for the assessment of momentary impulsivity. Model fit was good for both within- and between-individual EFA. As expected, the BPD group showed significantly higher scores on our Momentary Impulsivity Scale than the DD group, and the resulting scale was moderately correlated with common trait impulsivity scales.

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often report experiencing several negative emotions simultaneously, an indicator of “undifferentiated” negative affect. The current study examined the relationship between undifferentiated negative affect and impulsivity. Participants with a current BPD (n = 67) or depressive disorder (DD; n = 38) diagnosis carried an electronic diary for 28 days, reporting on emotions and impulsivity when randomly prompted (up to 6 times per day). Undifferentiated negative affect was quantified using momentary intraclass correlation coefficients, which indicated how consistently negative emotion items were rated across fear, hostility, and sadness subscales. Undifferentiated negative affect at the occasion-level, day-level, and across 28 days was used to predict occasion-level impulsivity. Multilevel modeling was used to test the hypothesis that undifferentiated negative emotion would be a significant predictor of momentary impulsivity above and beyond levels of overall negative affect. Undifferentiated negative affect at the occasion and day levels were significant predictors of occasion-level impulsivity, but undifferentiated negative affect across the 28-day study period was only marginally significant. Results did not differ depending on BPD or DD status, though BPD individuals did report significantly greater momentary impulsivity and undifferentiated negative affect. Undifferentiated negative affect may increase risk for impulsivity among individuals with BPD and depressive disorders, and the current data suggest that this process can be relatively immediate as well as cumulative over the course of a day. This research supports the consideration of undifferentiated negative affect as a transdiagnostic construct, but one that may be particularly relevant for those with BPD.

Theories of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) suggest that interpersonal problems in BPD act as triggers for negative affect and, at the same time, are a possible result of affective dysregulation. Therefore, we assessed the relations between momentary negative affect (hostility, sadness, fear) and interpersonal problems (rejection, disagreement) in a sample of 80 BPD and 51 depressed outpatients at 6 time-points over 28 days. Data were analyzed using multivariate multi-level modeling to separate momentary-, day-, and person-level effects. Results revealed a mutually reinforcing relationship between disagreement and hostility, rejection and hostility, and between rejection and sadness in both groups, at the momentary and day level. The mutual reinforcement between hostility and rejection/disagreement was significantly stronger in the BPD group. Moreover, the link between rejection and sadness was present at all three levels of analysis for the BPD group, while it was localized to the momentary level in the depressed group.

Background and Aims Cannabis and alcohol are the most commonly used (il)licit drugs worldwide. We compared the effects of cannabis and alcohol use on within-person changes in impulsivity, hostility, and positive affect at the momentary and daily levels, as they occurred in daily life. Design Observational study involving ecological momentary assessments collected via electronic diaries 6 random times a day for 28 consecutive days. Setting Outpatients’ everyday life contexts in Columbia, MO, USA. Participants Ninety-three adult psychiatric outpatients (85% female; M=30.9 years old) with Borderline Personality or Depressive disorders, who reported using only cannabis (n=3), only alcohol (n=58), or both (n=32) at least once during the study period. Measurements Real-time, standard self-report measures of impulsivity, hostility, and positive affect, as impacted by momentary reports of cannabis and alcohol use. Findings Cannabis use was associated with elevated feelings of impulsivity at the day level (b=0.83, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]=0.17–1.49) and increased hostility at the momentary (b=0.07, 95% CI=0.01–0.12) and person (b=0.81, 95% CI=0.15–1.47) level. Alcohol use was associated with elevated feelings of impulsivity at the momentary (b=0.42, 95% CI=0.13–0.71) and day level (b=0.82, 95% CI=0.22–1.41) and increased positive affect at the momentary (b=0.12, 95% CI=0.06–0.18) and day (b=0.33, 95% CI=0.16–0.49) level. Conclusions Cannabis and alcohol use are associated with increases in impulsivity (both), hostility (cannabis), and positive affect (alcohol) in daily life, and these effects are part of separate processes that operate on different time scales (i.e., momentary versus daily).

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a pervasive pattern of psychopathology characterized by unstable affect, suicidal behaviors, and identity problems (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington, DC: Author; 2000). BPD is heterogeneous in nature, highly prevalent in clinical settings, and increasingly studied by clinical and social psychologists. This review highlights affective instability, impulsivity, and interpersonal hypersensitivity, the interaction of which we believe accounts for the symptoms of BPD, the BPD criteria most associated with these features, and the interrelationships among these underlying dimensions. We also discuss difficulties in measurement of these dimensions. Real-world assessment methods will assist in the measurement of timedependent processes and identify causes, covariates, or consequences of these processes to determine how these features manifest themselves in real life.