Addressing methodological issues in a study of impulsivity and vulnerability for transition to alcohol use disorder

Background: Heightened behavioral impulsivity has been advocated as a preexisting risk factor for the development of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Nonetheless, studies investigating impulsivity in adolescent/young adult at-risk drinkers-who are at increased risk of developing AUD-report mixed findings. This may be due to methodological limitations related to definitions of at-risk drinking, the retrospective assessment of alcohol intake, and/or the relatively modest sample size of some studies.

Methods: Healthy individuals (N = 814, M_age = 22.50) completed online surveys and a measure of choice impulsivity. Of these, a number of participants also undertook an online measure of response inhibition (n = 627, M_age = 22.66), and a further subgroup submitted real-time alcohol consumption information for a period of 21 days using an app (n = 543, M_age = 22.96). Differences in behavioral impulsivity were assessed as a function of various at-risk alcohol intake categories. Hierarchical multiple regression was employed to determine whether impulsivity predicted alcohol use in the form of a continuous index comprising variables related to intake and consequences of use.

Results: Significantly greater impulsivity was not evident in heavy, standard binge, high binge, harmful, or hazardous alcohol drinkers as compared to controls, regardless of the criteria employed to categorize these at-risk drinkers. Neither choice impulsivity nor reduced response inhibition significantly predicted the alcohol use index.

Conclusions: While results could be attributed to the online nature of this research, it is possible that more sensitive measures of behavioral impulsivity are required when assessing nondependent drinkers.