Impulsive behaviors, which can include aggression, substance use and suicide, are common and core features of the DSM Axis II Cluster B personality disorders. The construct of dispositional impulsivity is multidimensional and a number of self-report measures have been created to represent features of this trait (e.g., novelty seeking, behavioral disinhibition, nonplanning). Because these questionnaires are rarely administered together in the same sample, little is known about how they are related to one another. The current study was conducted to examine the structure of dimensional impulsive personality traits in a large normative sample (n = 351). Analyses revealed that dispositional impulsivity was represented by three moderately correlated latent factors labeled thrill seeking, nonplanning and disinhibited behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses were also used to examine the extent to which the internal structure of these impulsive personality traits was similar in a sample defined as abnormal (i.e., DSM-III-R Cluster B PD diagnoses; n = 70). Results revealed that the structure of these traits was consistent across the two samples in a model that constrained factor loadings and structural covariances (NFI = 0.89; CFI = 95; RMSEA = 0.04). In addition, correlational relationships between the impulsivity factor scores and behavioral and sociodemographic factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, substance use) were consistent across the two samples. These results help to establish a common framework for understanding the multidimensional nature of impulsivity. Results from these analyses also lend support to a large body of work that demonstrates that normal and abnormal personality features are related.
Impulsivity is a common feature of a broad range of psychopathological conditions (e.g., Hollander and Evers, 2001 and Moeller et al., 2001) and a hallmark characteristic of the DSM Axis II Cluster B (“dramatic”) personality disorders (Looper and Paris, 2000 and Zanarini, 1993). For example, a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) or antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) – the two most widely studied cluster B disorders – is associated with higher scores on standard trait measures of impulsivity (e.g., Morey et al., 2002, Rounsaville et al., 1998 and Serper et al., 1993) and with impulsive behavior as measured by laboratory decision making tasks (e.g., Best et al., 2002, Dougherty et al., 1999, Dowson et al., 2004, Hochausen et al., 2002, Newman and Kosson, 1986 and Petry, 2002), when compared to healthy controls or other psychiatric control groups.
Comorbidity among the Cluster B personality disorders is common (e.g., McGlashan et al., 2000, Oldham et al., 1992 and Zanarini et al., 1998). Furthermore, both BPD and ASPD can be represented by various forms of disinhibited behavior including aggression (e.g., Blair, 2004 and Lieb et al., 2004), binge eating (e.g., Sansone et al., 2000), gambling (e.g., Blaszczynski and Steel, 1998 and Slutske et al., 2001), suicide (e.g., Brodsky et al., 1997) and substance dependence (reviewed in Trull et al., 2000 and Waldman and Slutske, 2000). One explanation for the co-occurrence of these externalizing disorders and behaviors is that there is a common underlying diathesis (Krueger, 1999, Krueger et al., 1998 and Vollebergh et al., 2001), perhaps reflecting a heritable dimension of temperament (Hicks et al., 2004).
Despite growing consensus that impulsivity figures prominently in the phenomenology and perhaps etiology of these disorders, the specific nature of impulsivity as a dispositional characteristic is less clear (Evenden, 1999 and Moeller et al., 2001). Although the construct can be defined generally as a diminished capacity to delay or inhibit behavioral responding, it has been operationalized in a number of different ways including motor impulsivity (motor disinhibition), risk taking, nonplanning, a preference for smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards, a disregard for future consequences and insensitivity to punishment (e.g., Barratt, 1985, Barratt, 1994, Evenden, 1999, Moeller et al., 2001, Monterosso and Ainslie, 1999, Swann et al., 2002 and Patterson and Newman, 1993). Moreover, although impulsivity is included in all of the major taxonometric models of normative personality, the trait loads onto different higher order factors depending on the model. For example, in Eysenck and Eysenck (1968) early three factor system of personality, impulsivity was conceptually aligned with extraversion and unrelated to neuroticism. Later versions of this model subdivided the construct into venturesomeness and impulsiveness, which loaded onto extraversion and psychoticism, respectively (Eysenck and Eysenck,
