Distress-driven impulsivity interacts with trait compulsivity in association with problematic drinking: A two-sample study.

Objective: Problematic drinking is highly prevalent among the general population, oftentimes leading to significant negative consequences, including physical injury, psychological problems and financial hardship. In order to design targeted early interventions for problematic drinking, it is important to understand the mechanisms that render individuals at risk for and/or maintain this behavior. Two candidate drivers of problematic drinking are distress-driven impulsivity and trait compulsivity, with recent research suggesting these constructs may interact to enhance risk for addictive behaviors. The current study examined whether individual differences in distress-driven impulsivity and trait compulsivity interact in relation to problematic drinking.
Method: Distress-driven impulsivity (indexed by the S-UPPS-P negative urgency subscale), trait compulsivity (indexed by the CHIT scale) and problematic drinking (indexed by the BATCAP alcohol scale) were assessed in two independent online samples (Sample 1, n = 117; Sample 2, n = 474). Bootstrapped moderation analysis was conducted to examine whether trait compulsivity moderated the relationship between distress-driven impulsivity and problematic drinking.
Results: In both samples, there was a significant interaction between distress-driven impulsivity and trait compulsivity in relation to problematic drinking. Follow-up tests revealed that, in both samples, higher distress-driven impulsivity was associated with more problematic drinking behaviors among participants with high trait compulsivity only.
Conclusions: The current findings add to the growing literature supporting an interactive relationship between impulsivity and compulsivity-related traits in relation to addictive behaviors and have implications for informing early detection of risk and targeted early interventions.
Competing Interests: Author MY has received payment from law firms in relation to court and/or expert witness reports. Author SC consults for Promentis and receives a stipend/honoraria from Elsevier for editorial work. Author JG has received research grants from Biohaven, Promentis, and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. He also receives yearly compensation from Springer Publishing for acting as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gambling Studies and has received royalties from Oxford University Press, American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., Norton Press, and McGraw Hill. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2022 Liu, Rotaru, Chamberlain, Yücel, Grant, Lee, Wulandari, Suo and Albertella.)