School of Mental Health, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 20;11:1292422. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1292422. eCollection 2023.
Evidence from previous studies indicates that impulsive behaviors are closely linked to alcohol use and misuse and that female drinkers are more impulsive than male drinkers. However, studies investigating the psychological mechanisms of alcohol use and impulsivity based on sex differences are relatively limited.
This cross-sectional study comprised 713 residents from 16 cities in Anhui Province, China. Each subject was evaluated for self-reporting measures using several questionnaires, including the general information questionnaire, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRM), the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version (BRIEF-A), and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11).
Executive function and prospective memory may serve as intermediary links between alcohol use and impulsivity. Although the female alcohol usage level was significantly lower than that of males, the female drinkers had more severe executive dysfunction, prospective memory impairment, and impulsivity than male drinkers. Sex moderated the relationship between alcohol use and impulsivity. Furthermore, the indirect effect of executive function, and prospective memory between AUDIT and BIS was more significant in males than in females.
Alcohol consumption may be associated with impulsivity formation through executive dysfunction and PM impairment, implying that impulsivity in those with AUD or at risk for AUD might be treated by improving EF and PM. Alcohol use may cause more severe executive dysfunction, PM impairment, and impulsive behavior in females than in males, and impulsive behavior in women with AUD was more likely to be due to the direct effects of alcohol consumption, while impulsive behavior in men with AUD was more likely to be due to the indirect effects of executive dysfunction and PM impairment. These findings provide both clinical and theoretical foundations for addressing issues related to alcohol use.
先前的研究证据表明，冲动行为与饮酒和滥用酒精密切相关，女性饮酒者比男性饮酒者更冲动。然而，基于性别差异研究饮酒和冲动行为的心理机制的研究相对较少。
本横断面研究包括来自中国安徽省 16 个城市的 713 名居民。每位受试者均使用多种问卷进行自评，包括一般信息问卷、酒精使用障碍识别测试（AUDIT）、前瞻性和回溯性记忆问卷（PRM）、行为评定量表执行功能成人版（BRIEF-A）和巴雷特冲动量表-11 版（BIS-11）。
执行功能和前瞻性记忆可能是饮酒和冲动之间的中介环节。尽管女性饮酒水平明显低于男性，但女性饮酒者的执行功能障碍、前瞻性记忆障碍和冲动性比男性饮酒者更为严重。性别调节了饮酒与冲动之间的关系。此外，AUDIT 和 BIS 之间的执行功能和前瞻性记忆的间接效应在男性中比在女性中更为显著。
饮酒可能通过执行功能障碍和 PM 损害与冲动形成有关，这表明 AUD 或 AUD 风险患者的冲动可能通过改善 EF 和 PM 来治疗。饮酒可能导致女性比男性出现更严重的执行功能障碍、PM 损害和冲动行为，并且 AUD 女性的冲动行为更可能是由于酒精消费的直接影响，而 AUD 男性的冲动行为更可能是由于执行功能障碍和 PM 损害的间接影响。这些发现为解决与饮酒相关的问题提供了临床和理论基础。
