Verdejo-García Antonio, Bechara Antoine, Recknor Emily C, Pérez-García Miguel
Pharmacology and Clinical Neurosciences Research Unit, Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2007 Dec 1;91(2-3):213-9. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.05.025. Epub 2007 Jul 16.
Impulsivity is predominant among users of several drugs of abuse including alcohol, cocaine, and amphetamines, and it is considered a risk factor for later development of alcohol and substance abuse and dependence. However, there is little consensus on how impulsivity should be defined and measured, and there are few studies on the relationship between separate dimensions of impulsivity and substance dependence. We used a multidimensional measure of impulsivity (the UPPS scale) to examine differences between 36 individuals with substance dependence (ISD) and 36 drug-free controls on the dimensions of urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking. In addition, we examined which dimensions of impulsivity better predicted addiction-related problems as measured with the addiction severity index. Results revealed that ISD show high scores on dimensions of urgency, lack of perseverance, and lack of premeditation (effect sizes ranging from 1.10 to 1.96), but not on sensation seeking. Among the different impulsivity dimensions, urgency was the best predictor of severity of medical, employment, alcohol, drug, family/social, legal and psychiatric problems in ISD, explaining 13-48% of the total variance of these indices. Furthermore, urgency scores alone correctly classified 83% of the participants in the ISD group. Urgency is characterized by a tendency to act impulsively in response to negative emotional states. Thus, our results could have important implications for novel treatment approaches for substance dependence focused on emotional regulation.
冲动性在包括酒精、可卡因和安非他命在内的几种滥用药物的使用者中较为普遍，并且它被认为是日后发展为酒精及药物滥用和依赖的一个风险因素。然而，关于冲动性应如何定义和测量，几乎没有达成共识，而且关于冲动性的不同维度与物质依赖之间的关系的研究也很少。我们使用了一种冲动性的多维测量方法（UPPS量表）来检验36名物质依赖个体（ISD）和36名无药物使用史的对照者在紧迫性、缺乏预谋、缺乏毅力和寻求刺激等维度上的差异。此外，我们还检验了冲动性的哪些维度能更好地预测用成瘾严重程度指数衡量的与成瘾相关的问题。结果显示，ISD在紧迫性、缺乏毅力和缺乏预谋维度上得分较高（效应大小在1.10至1.96之间），但在寻求刺激维度上得分不高。在不同的冲动性维度中，紧迫性是ISD中医疗、就业、酒精、药物、家庭/社会、法律和精神问题严重程度的最佳预测指标，解释了这些指数总方差的13%至48%。此外，仅紧迫性得分就能正确地将83%的ISD组参与者分类。紧迫性的特点是倾向于在负面情绪状态下冲动行事。因此，我们的结果可能对专注于情绪调节的物质依赖新治疗方法具有重要意义。
