Effect of impulsivity, risk taking and cognitive bias on alcohol use in children and adolescents

Abstract

The present study examined the association of trait and behavioral impulsivity, risk taking and cognitive bias on frequency and quantity of alcohol in children and adolescents. Participants were children and adolescents (n = 90; M age = 14.34 SE = .17; 50% female) that took part in a larger longitudinal study (N = 1762; M age = 12.59 SE = .03; 45.7% male) were they completed the UPPS-P, a 5-factor measure of trait-like impulsivity. Participants with the highest (i.e., superior quartile) and the lowest (i.e., inferior quartile) scores on the UPPS-P were invited to participate in the present study. Participants completed a paper-and-pencil survey measuring sociodemographic variables and alcohol drinking (drinking frequency and quantity) and three computerized tasks to assessed risk taking (Balloon Analogue Risk Task [BART]), response inhibition (Go Stop Task) and cognitive bias towards alcohol signals (Emotional Stroop).Participants completed the tasks in individual sessions. Results of bivariate correlations showed that age, lack of premeditation (one of the fve dimensions of trait-like impulsivity), and risk taking were signifcantlypositively associated with frequency of alcohol use; while only age was signifcantly associated with quantity alcohol use. We conducted a hierarchical regression analyses I including age and trait-like impulsivity inthe frst step and risk-taking, response inhibition and cognitive bias included in the second step. For frequency of alcohol drinking as the dependent variable, all these variables explained 47% of the variance. Age, traitlike impulsivity and risk-taking had a signifcant positive effect on frequency. For drinking quantity as the dependent variable, only age and trait-like impulsivity was signifcantly positively associated with greater alcohol use (R 2 = .29). Altogether, these fndings failed to fnd a robust effect of multiple measures of impulsivity on underage drinking, particularly drinking quantity. This is probably related to the low prevalence of drinking behaviors at this early age. Notably, trait-like impulsivity and risk taking had a signifcant effecton drinking frequency even after controlling or chronological ager; suggesting these variables are relevant to discriminate and identify children and adolescents at greater risk for engaging in alcohol use.