Integrating affect and impulsivity: The role of positive and negative urgency in substance use risk

Abstract

Background: The personality traits of positive and negative urgency refer to the tendencies to act rashly when experiencing unusually positive or negative emotions, respectively.

Methods: The authors review recent empirical work testing urgency theory (Cyders and Smith, 2008a) and consider advances in theory related to these traits.

Results: Empirical findings indicate that (a) the urgency traits are particularly important predictors of the onset of, and increases in, substance use in both children and young adults; (b) they appear to operate in part by biasing psychosocial learning; (c) pubertal onset is associated with increases in negative urgency, which in turn predict increases in adolescent drinking behavior; (d) variation in negative urgency trait levels are associated with variations in the functioning of an identified brain system; and (e) variations in the serotonin transporter gene, known to influence the relevant brain system, relate to variations in the urgency traits.

Conclusion: A recent model (Carver et al., 2008) proposes the urgency traits to be markers of a tendency to respond reflexively to emotion, whether through impulsive action or ill-advised inaction (the latter leading to depressive symptoms); this model has received empirical support. The authors discuss new directions for research on the urgency traits.

Keywords: Negative urgency; Personality; Positive urgency; Risk.