From the Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2012 Jun;36(6):923-31. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01635.x. Epub 2011 Oct 20.
Higher levels of impulsivity have been implicated in the development of alcohol use disorders. Recent findings suggest that impulsivity is not a unitary construct, highlighted by the diverse ways in which the various measures of impulsivity relate to alcohol use outcomes. This study simultaneously tested the following dimensions of impulsivity as determinants of alcohol use and alcohol problems: risky decision making, self-reported risk-attitudes, response inhibition, and impulsive decision making.
Participants were a community sample of nontreatment seeking problem drinkers (n = 158). Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses employed behavioral measures of impulsive decision making (delay discounting task [DDT]), response inhibition (stop signal task [SST]), and risky decision making (Balloon Analogue Risk Task [BART]), and a self-report measure of risk-attitudes (domain-specific risk-attitude scale [DOSPERT]), as predictors of alcohol use and of alcohol-related problems in this sample.
The model fits well, accounting for 38% of the variance in alcohol problems, and identified 2 impulsivity dimensions that significantly loaded onto alcohol outcomes: (i) impulsive decision making, indexed by the DDT; and (ii) risky decision making, measured by the BART.
The impulsive decision-making dimension of impulsivity, indexed by the DDT, was the strongest predictor of alcohol use and alcohol pathology in this sample of problem drinkers. Unexpectedly, a negative relationship was found between risky decision making and alcohol problems. The results highlight the importance of considering the distinct facets of impulsivity to elucidate their individual and combined effects on alcohol use initiation, escalation, and dependence.
冲动性水平升高与酒精使用障碍的发展有关。最近的研究结果表明，冲动性不是一个单一的结构，各种冲动性测量与酒精使用结果的关系方式多种多样，突出了这一点。本研究同时测试了冲动性的以下维度作为酒精使用和酒精问题的决定因素：冒险决策、自我报告的风险态度、反应抑制和冲动决策。
参与者为非治疗性寻求问题饮酒者的社区样本（n=158）。结构方程模型（SEM）分析采用冲动决策的行为测量（延迟折扣任务[DDT]）、反应抑制（停止信号任务[SST]）和冒险决策（气球分析风险任务[BART]），以及自我报告的风险态度（特定领域风险态度量表[DOSPERT]），作为该样本中酒精使用和与酒精相关问题的预测因子。
该模型拟合良好，解释了 38%的酒精问题方差，并确定了两个显著加载到酒精结果上的冲动性维度：（i）冲动决策，由 DDT 索引；（ii）冒险决策，由 BART 测量。
冲动性的冲动决策维度，由 DDT 索引，是该问题饮酒者样本中酒精使用和酒精病理的最强预测因子。出乎意料的是，在风险决策和酒精问题之间发现了负相关关系。结果强调了考虑冲动性的不同方面的重要性，以阐明它们对酒精使用开始、升级和依赖的单独和联合影响。
