(PS6-D80) Impulsive Personality Traits Indirectly Predict Negative Alcohol Consequences Through Both Rash Action and Inaction

Background: Impulsivity is a strong, consistent risk factor for heavier drinking (i.e., rash action). Research also suggests that impulsivity is related to rash, ill-advised behavioral inaction, conferring risk for internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress). However, it is unclear whether certain facets of impulsivity (i.e., lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, sensation seeking, negative urgency, positive urgency) are differentially related to rash action (i.e., drinking) versus inaction (i.e., internalizing), and whether rash action and inaction serve as mechanisms through which impulsive traits confer risk for negative alcohol consequences.

Method: Data come from a longitudinal study of contextual influences on alcohol response in emerging adults (N = 448, M_age = 22.27, 43.5% female). Longitudinal SEM models were estimated in Mplus testing whether UPPS-P impulsivity traits at T1 were prospectively associated with drinking quantity and internalizing symptoms (T2), and whether T2 drinking and internalizing symptoms mediated the effect of T1 impulsivity on T3 negative alcohol consequences. Models were separated by urgency facets, and autoregressive effects from T1 were specified on all outcomes and mediators; covariate effects were sex and age.

Results: T1 lack of premeditation was prospectively associated with T2 heavier drinking (b = .14, p = .002), and T1 negative urgency was prospectively associated with more T2 depressive (b = .16, p = .002), anxiety (b = .16, p = .013), and stress symptoms (b = .17, p = .001). Further, T2 heavier drinking (b = .19, p < .001), T2 depression (b = .21, p = .026) and T2 stress (b = .24, p = .007) were prospectively associated with T3 negative alcohol consequences. Thus, T1 lack of premeditation indirectly predicted T3 negative alcohol consequences through heavier T2 drinking (b = .03, 95%CI = [.01, .05]), whereas T1 negative urgency indirectly predicted T3 negative alcohol consequences through higher T2 stress symptoms (b = .04,95%CI = [.01, .09]) and depressive symptoms (b = .04,95%CI = [.002, .08]).

Conclusions: The current study found that different impulsive traits were associated with rash action vs. inaction, both of which conferred risk for negative alcohol consequences. Findings underscore the importance of targeting both drinking behavior as well as internalizing symptomology, depending on personality traits, in personality-centered interventions seeking to prevent future alcohol problems.