Impulsivity and cigarette craving: differences across subtypes.
BACKGROUND
Cigarette smoking has been linked to a number of personality characteristics, including impulsivity. Smokers tend to endorse high levels of impulsivity, and more impulsive smokers have greater difficulty quitting, but little is known about potential explanatory mechanisms. Although indirect evidence suggests craving as a candidate mechanism, direct evidence has been mixed.


METHODS
This study assessed whether specific aspects of impulsivity (sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and urgency) were associated with cue-induced craving. Regular smokers (n = 60; 50% female) were exposed to a smoking cue and a neutral cue in a repeated measure counter-balanced design.


RESULTS
Mixed effects regression models indicated that smokers who were high in sensation seeking reported greater increases in appetitive craving after smoking cue exposure, whereas, smokers who were high in urgency and lack of perseverance reported greater increases in negative affect craving.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest a complex relationship between impulsivity and cue-induced craving that may be masked by single construct conceptualizations of impulsivity.
Doran
Neal
N
Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, 3350 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92161, USA. nmdoran@ucsd.edu
Cook
Jessica
J
McChargue
Dennis
D
Spring
Bonnie
B
D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000523:psychology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000523:psychology*