Browsing by Subject "affective lability"

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    Mechanisms Underlying the Relationship between Negative Affectivity and Problematic Alcohol Use
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Coskunpinar, Ayca; Dir, Allyson L.; Karyadi, Kenny A.; Koo, ChungSeung
    Research has long supported the role of negative affectivity for problematic alcohol consumption (Bechara, 2005; Dolan, 2007; Larsen, 2000; Tice & Bratslavsky, 2000; Tice, Bratslavsky, & Baumeister, 2001). However, the mechanisms that underlie how negative affective traits influence problematic alcohol use and attentional biases are not well understood. These inconsistencies can be attributed to three possible reasons: (1) research has often utilized broad measures of negative affective traits that can mask the effect of specific underlying unidimensional traits (Smith, Fischer & Fister, 2003), (2) research has tended to utilize only the valence of traits and has often failed to consider how activation of traits might predict behavioral outcomes, and (3) research has not fully incorporated other aspects of affective traits (e.g. affective lability and emotion-based rash action) that could be serving as mechanisms in predicting problematic alcohol use. The current study sought to characterize mechanisms that drive problematic alcohol use and attentional biases. Three undergraduate student studies were conducted (n = 510, 429, and 38). Negative urgency partially mediated the effects of negative affectivity (B for indirect effect = .119, CI = .09 – .16) and affect lability (B for indirect effect = .928, CI = .47 – 1.45) on problematic alcohol use. Activation level of hostility predicted increased variance in problematic alcohol consumption (R2 change = .01, β = .16, p = .02) above trait valence. Negative urgency predicted alcohol attentional biases over and above valence and activation (β = 2.23, p = .05). Negative urgency is a prime mechanism by which negative affective traits influence problematic alcohol consumption. This suggests that the relationship between negative urgency or lack of planning and problematic alcohol consumption could be driven, in part, by increases in attentional biases when cued with alcohol stimuli, although this was not directly tested in the current study.
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    The Uniqueness of Negative Urgency as a Common Risk Factor for Alcohol Consumption, Self-harm Behaviors, and Eating Problems in College Students
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Dir, Allyson L.; Karyadi, Kenny A.; Cyders, Melissa A.
    Research suggests that self-control, affective lability, and negative urgency are associated with deliberate self-harm, problematic alcohol consumption, and eating problems. Few studies have fully examined how negative urgency might uniquely explain the effects of self-control and affective lability on these outcomes, as compared to other impulsivity-related traits. This was the goal of the current study. Of an initial group of 734 undergraduate students, 29% indicated a history of deliberate self-harm. These 215 individuals were randomly matched with a group of non-self-harmers (total N = 430; mean age = 22.36, SD = 6.59; 76.2% female). Self-harmers showed higher rates of alcohol use (F(2, 186) = 5.48, p < .001) and eating problems (F(2, 186) = 7.74, p < .001). In a structural equation model, negative urgency was significantly associated with self-harming frequency (β = 3.81, p < .001), variety of self-harm methods (β = 5.79, p < .001), the number of years of self-harming (β = 2.75, p < .001), problematic alcohol use (β = 1.80, p < .05), and eating problems (β = 3.99, p < .001). Negative urgency was positively associated with affective lability (β = 7.71, p < .001) and negatively associated with self-control (β = -13.59, p < .001). Negative urgency is the only impulsivity-related trait that is a common risk factor associated with increased self-harm, problematic alcohol use, and eating problems.