Department of Social and International Studies, Southern Polytechnic State University.
Department of Psychology, University of Iowa.
Psychol Bull. 2014 Mar;140(2):374-408. doi: 10.1037/a0034418. Epub 2013 Oct 7.
Impulsivity is considered a personality trait affecting behavior in many life domains, from recreational activities to important decision making. When extreme, it is associated with mental health problems, such as substance use disorders, as well as with interpersonal and social difficulties, including juvenile delinquency and criminality. Yet, trait impulsivity may not be a unitary construct. We review commonly used self-report measures of personality trait impulsivity and related constructs (e.g., sensation seeking), plus the opposite pole, control or constraint. A meta-analytic principal-components factor analysis demonstrated that these scales comprise 3 distinct factors, each of which aligns with a broad, higher order personality factor-Neuroticism/Negative Emotionality, Disinhibition versus Constraint/Conscientiousness, and Extraversion/Positive Emotionality/Sensation Seeking. Moreover, Disinhibition versus Constraint/Conscientiousness comprise 2 correlated but distinct subfactors: Disinhibition versus Constraint and Conscientiousness/Will versus Resourcelessness. We also review laboratory tasks that purport to measure a construct similar to trait impulsivity. A meta-analytic principal-components factor analysis demonstrated that these tasks constitute 4 factors (Inattention, Inhibition, Impulsive Decision-Making, and Shifting). Although relations between these 2 measurement models are consistently low to very low, relations between both trait scales and laboratory behavioral tasks and daily-life impulsive behaviors are moderate. That is, both independently predict problematic daily-life impulsive behaviors, such as substance use, gambling, and delinquency; their joint use has incremental predictive power over the use of either type of measure alone and furthers our understanding of these important, problematic behaviors. Future use of confirmatory methods should help to ascertain with greater precision the number of and relations between impulsivity-related components.
冲动性被认为是一种人格特质，会影响到许多生活领域的行为，从娱乐活动到重要的决策。当它变得极端时，它与心理健康问题有关，如物质使用障碍，以及与人际关系和社交困难有关，包括青少年犯罪和犯罪。然而，特质冲动性可能不是一个单一的结构。我们回顾了常用的人格特质冲动性和相关结构的自陈量表（例如，感觉寻求），以及相反的极点，控制或约束。一项元分析主成分因素分析表明，这些量表包含 3 个不同的因素，每个因素都与一个广泛的、更高阶的人格因素相吻合——神经质/负性情绪、抑制与约束/尽责性，以及外向性/正性情绪/感觉寻求。此外，抑制与约束/尽责性包含 2 个相互关联但不同的子因素：抑制与约束和尽责性/意志力与无资源性。我们还回顾了旨在测量类似于特质冲动性的结构的实验室任务。一项元分析主成分因素分析表明，这些任务构成了 4 个因素（注意力不集中、抑制、冲动决策和转换）。尽管这两个测量模型之间的关系始终很低到非常低，但这两个特质量表和实验室行为任务与日常生活中的冲动行为之间的关系是中等的。也就是说，两者都独立地预测了日常生活中的冲动行为问题，如物质使用、赌博和犯罪；它们的联合使用比单独使用任何一种类型的测量都具有更高的预测能力，并进一步加深了我们对这些重要、有问题行为的理解。未来使用验证性方法应该有助于更准确地确定与冲动性相关的成分的数量和关系。
