Recent Advances in Understanding the Personality Underpinnings of Impulsive Behavior and their Role in Risk for Addictive Behaviors

Abstract

Impulsivity has been a widely explored construct, particularly as a personality-based risk factor for addictive behaviors. The authors review evidence that (a) there is no single impulsivity trait; rather, there are at least five different personality traits that dispose individuals to rash or impulsive action; (b) the five traits predict different behaviors longitudinally; for example, the emotion-based urgency traits predict problematic involvement in several risky behaviors and sensation seeking instead predicts the frequency of engaging in such behaviors; (c) the traits can be measured in pre-adolescent children; (d) individual differences in the traits among preadolescent children predict the subsequent onset of, and increases in, risky behaviors including alcohol use; (e) the traits may operate by biasing the learning process, such that high-risk traits make high-risk learning more likely, thus leading to maladaptive behavior; (f) the emotion-based urgency traits may contribute to compulsive engagement in addictive behaviors; and (g) there is evidence that different interventions are appropriate for the different trait structures.

Brain structure correlates of emotion-based rash impulsivity

“…An averaged score combining (lack of) perseveration and (lack of) planning was used due to the high correlation between these two measures (r = .51, p < .001), consistent with previous findings that (lack of) perseveration and (lack of) planning are correlated facets of (low) conscientiousness (Birkley and Smith, 2011). …”

Treatment outcomes of drug users in probation period: three months follow-up

“…It is claimed that novelty-seeking behaviour is a component of impulsivity. As such, it has been stated that novelty-seeking behaviour determines the frequency of risk taking behaviour [29]. In our study, impulsive behaviour and novelty-seeking behaviour are determined to predict non-compliance to treatment as independent variables.…”

Comparison of brain volume abnormalities between ADHD and conduct disorder in adolescence

“…This region is noted for its role in many types of executive cognition, 62 suggesting a common neural liability of cognitive control over behaviour. A key question for future studies is whether this putatively shared deficit represents a specific type of impulsivity or disinhibition 63,64 as a direct etiological factor (i.e., dorsolateral prefrontal structural deficits are present from birth and causally influence symptom expression) that is common to both disorders. Alternatively, perhaps volumetric deficits in this region arise from different, possibly indirect etiological factors (i.e., brain volume deficits emerge over time as a consequence of disrupted neural development in one group and from dysfunctional mechanisms proximal to disorder etiology in the other group).…”