title: The latent structure of impulsivity: impulsive choice, impulsive action, and impulsive personality traits.
abstract: Impulsivity has been strongly linked to addictive behaviors, but can be operationalized in a number of ways that vary considerably in overlap, suggesting multidimensionality.
  
  
  
  This study tested the hypothesis that the latent structure among multiple measures of impulsivity would reflect the following three broad categories: impulsive choice, reflecting discounting of delayed rewards; impulsive action, reflecting ability to inhibit a prepotent motor response; and impulsive personality traits, reflecting self-reported attributions of self-regulatory capacity.
  
  
  
  The study used a cross-sectional confirmatory factor analysis of multiple impulsivity assessments. Participants were 1252 young adults (62 % female) with low levels of addictive behavior, who were assessed in individual laboratory rooms at the University of Chicago and the University of Georgia. The battery comprised a Delay (replace hyphen with space) Discounting Task, Monetary Choice Questionnaire, Conners' Continuous Performance Test, Go/NoGo Task, Stop Signal Task, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale.
  
  
  
  The hypothesized three-factor model provided the best fit to the data, although sensation seeking was excluded from the final model. The three latent factors were largely unrelated to each other and were variably associated with substance use.
  
  
  
  These findings support the hypothesis that diverse measures of impulsivity can broadly be organized into three categories that are largely distinct from one another. These findings warrant investigation among individuals with clinical levels of addictive behavior and may be applied to understanding the underlying biological mechanisms of these categories.
authors.affiliation: Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research, McMaster University/St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, L8P 3R2, Canada. jmackill@mcmaster.ca.|Homewood Research Institute, Homewood Health Centre, Guelph, ON, N1E 4J3, Canada. jmackill@mcmaster.ca.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: MacKillop
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weafer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Georgia Athens, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.|Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: C Gray
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia Athens, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Assaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oshri
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA.|Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Wit
mesh_terms: D016739:Behavior, Addictive; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D065786:Delay Discounting; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D012201:Reward; D057566:Self Report; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Addiction; Behavioral inhibition; Confirmatory factor analysis; Delay discounting; Impulsive personality; Impulsivity