Browsing by Subject "Positive urgency"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Integrating affect and impulsivity: The role of positive and negative urgency in substance use risk
    (Elsevier, 2016-06-01) Smith, Gregory T.; Cyders, Melissa A.; Psychology, School of Science
    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.
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    Recommendations for applying a multi-dimensional model of impulsive personality to diagnosis and treatment
    (BioMed Central, 2018-04-02) Um, Miji; Hershberger, Alexandra R.; Whitt, Zachary T.; Cyders, Melissa A.; Psychology, School of Science
    The UPPS-P Model of Impulsive Personality, a prominent model of impulsive personality derived from the Five Factor Model of Personality, is a multi-dimensional model of impulsive personality that consists of negative urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseveration, sensation seeking, and positive urgency. The UPPS-P model has highlighted the importance of separating multidimensional traits due to the specificity of these traits corresponding to different risk behaviors. The goal of the current review paper is to make recommendations on how to apply the UPPS-P Model of Impulsive Personality, to diagnosis of and treatment for psychopathology. However, despite impulsivity being one of the most frequently used criteria for a number of clinical disorders, our review of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-5 found that the UPPS-P traits are not well represented in the diagnostic criteria, which we propose limits inferences about etiology and treatment targets. Additionally, research has largely focused on the importance of these traits for risk models; our review of the literature applying the UPPS-P traits to treatment processes and outcomes concluded that this area is not yet well studied. Here, we propose the specific application of the UPPS-P model to improve diagnosis and increase treatment effectiveness.
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    Urgency as a predictor of change in emotion dysregulation in adolescents
    (Frontiers Media, 2024-10-03) Fisher-Fox, Lindsey; Whitener, MacKenzie; Wu, Wei; Cyders, Melissa A.; Zapolski, Tamika C. B.; Psychology, School of Science
    Introduction: Adolescence is a key developmental period characterized by increased maladaptive risky behaviors. Two related but distinct constructs, urgency (the tendency to act rashly in response to strong negative or positive emotions) and emotion dysregulation, are important risk factors for engaging in maladaptive risky behaviors. Thus far, research has largely agreed that these two risk factors are highly correlated. However, the causal direction between these constructs is less understood. The goal of the current study is to determine whether urgency predicts emotion dysregulation change among adolescents. Method: This project is an analysis of 544 youth (49.8% female, Mage=14.22, SD=0.52). We tested whether urgency at baseline predicts change in emotion dysregulation over a nine-week period, and whether that relationship differs across boys and girls. Results: Two multigroup latent change score path analyses found that negative, but not positive, urgency significantly predicted emotion dysregulation change (negative urgency: b= -0.57, p=0.001; positive urgency: b=0.22, p=0.06). There was no evidence of moderation by gender. Discussion: This work provides initial evidence of a temporal relationship between higher negative urgency and increased emotion dysregulation. The next step is to determine whether negative urgency imparts risk for maladaptive behaviors through its effect on emotion dysregulation. The long-term goal of this program of research is to design and test interventions to reduce the impact of negative urgency for adolescent risk-taking.