تنظیم احساسات و تکانشگری در بزرگسالان جوان

Past research has linked both emotion regulation and impulsivity with the development and maintenance of addictions. However, no research has investigated the relationship between emotion regulation and impulsivity within young adults. In the present study, we analyzed 194 young adults (27.8% female; 21.3 ± 3.32 years old; 91.8% single; 85.1% Caucasian), grouping them as low, average, or high emotionally dysregulated, and compared self-reported impulsivity, impulsive behaviors (such as alcohol and substance use and gambling) and cognitive impulsivity. We hypothesized that those with high levels of emotion dysregulation would score higher on self-reported and cognitive impulsivity, and report more impulsive behaviors. Analysis indicated that compared to low, the high emotion dysregulation group scored significantly higher on two self-report measures of impulsivity, harm avoidance, and cognitive reasoning. No significant differences were found between groups in impulsive behaviors and cognitive impulsivity. Overall, this study highlights the relationship between emotion dysregulation and impulsivity, suggesting that emotion regulation may be an important factor to consider when assessing individuals at a higher risk for developing an addiction.

Emotion regulation can be described as the mechanism through which individuals modify (either intentionally or unintentionally) their emotions to achieve a desired outcome (Aldao et al., 2010). Past studies have found that maladaptive emotion regulation strategies play a role in the development and maintenance of psychopathology (Gross and Muñoz, 1995 and Moore et al., 2008), possibly through conflicting with self-regulation goals during periods of emotional distress. This conflict may result in shifting attention away from the longer term goal of self-regulation, such as becoming healthier, and shifting attention toward decreasing emotional distress through seeking out immediate pleasure and relief, such as smoking a cigarette or acting impulsively (Tice et al., 2001). Impulsivity, a multidimensional concept, has been defined as engaging in behaviors without forethought and prematurely responding to stimuli that often produce adverse consequences (Moeller et al., 2007). Both emotion dysregulation and heightened impulsivity have independently been considered risk factors for smoking (Granö et al., 2004, Morrell et al., 2010, Bickel et al., 1999 and Gerhrick et al., 2007), drug and alcohol use disorders (Fox et al., 2007, Fox et al., 2008, Nigg et al., 2005, Quirk, 2001, Tarter et al., 2003 and Verdejo-García et al., 2008) and pathological gambling (Hopley and Nicki, 2010, Matthews et al., 2009, Morasco et al., 2007, Shead and Hodgins, 2009, Slutske et al., 2005 and Odlaug et al., in press), suggesting that these constructs could predispose individuals to developing and/or maintaining impulsive behaviors and related psychopathology. Numerous studies have linked emotional states with impulsivity and addictive behaviors. Such studies have found that smoking and unhealthy eating increase during stressful times (Abrantes et al., 2008, Shi et al., in press, Greeno and Wing, 1994 and Magid et al., 2009); alcohol is often used to regulate positive and negative moods (Cooper et al., 1995), and that anxiety sensitivity and an inability to tolerate discomfort both significantly predict the development of alcohol or drug problems (Howell et al., 2011, Galen et al., 2001, Stewart et al., 2001, Cheethman et al., 2010, Dorard et al., 2008, Quirk, 2001 and Wu et al., 2011). Other research has found that students who expected gambling to provide some form of relief or reward reported significantly more gambling-related problems, such as financial problems, and had significantly higher impulsivity scores (as measured by the Barratt Impulsivity Scale) compared to those without relief and reward expectations (Shead and Hodgins, 2009) and that impulsive decision making may be an attempt to change a negative emotional state (Tice et al., 2001). This relationship between impulsive behaviors and emotional state is further supported by previous neuroscience research which has found that the prefrontal cortex and the amydgala both play key roles in emotion regulation (Ochsner and Gross, 2005 and Ray and Zald, 2012), as well in impulsive behaviors, decision making, risk-taking, motor control, and reasoning (Kim and Lee, 2010, Manes et al., 2002, Bechara et al., 2000, Torresgrossa et al., 2008, Zeeb et al., 2010, Zeeb and Winstanley, 2011, Hinvest et al., 2011, Fecteau et al., 2007, Spinella, 2004, Krawczyk et al., 2011 and Xie et al., 2011). In particular, an overlap of neural circuitry implicated in impulsivity, emotionally salient reasoning, and spatial working memory may occur in the medial prefrontal cortex. Of the fronto-subcortical circuits, the medial division of the orbitofrontal circuit, originating in the inferomedial prefrontal cortex, has sequential projections to medial aspects of the accumbens, to medial ventral portions of the pallidum, and the medial magnocellular division of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus, back to the medial orbitofrontal cortex (Eldaief et al., 2011, Sripada et al., 2011, Bonelli and Cummings, 2007 and Eslinger and Damasio, 1985). Dysfunction in this area may therefore disconnect frontal monitoring systems from limbic input, resulting in decreased impulse inhibition and emotional lability. Furthermore, medial prefrontal circuit dysfunction may result in disrupted interactions with the hippocampus resulting in deficits in spatial working memory (Churchwell and Kesner, 2011). In the present study, we examined the relationship between emotion dysregulation and impulsivity within a sample of young adults. We hypothesized that those with more difficulties in emotion regulation (as measured by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) would have higher rates of self-report impulsivity, impulsive behaviors, and demonstrate impaired functioning on neurocognitive measures of impulsive decision-making.