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Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism are three personality constructs collectively associated with antagonism, callousness, and engagement in socially aversive behaviors. These overlapping personality constructs are theorized to have features that meaningfully distinguish each of them from one another, such as variations in impulsivity. However, investigating the interrelations between existing measures of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and impulsivity presents several methodological challenges. Five Factor Model (FFM) approaches to these four multidimensional constructs provide a promising avenue for examining the associations between these personality domains and impulsivity. This study examined a comprehensive, multidimensional model of impulsivity (i.e., the UPPS-P model of impulsivity) in relation to newly developed FFM-based measures of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism using a combination of variable- and person-centered statistical approaches across two distinct samples. Data were analyzed from an archival sample of 918 undergraduate students and 756 MTurk users to provide information on generalizability and replication of results. Hypotheses were tested using a combination of path analyses, latent profile analyses, and multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA). Results suggest various impulsivity dimensions are associated with underlying aspects of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism that may be challenging to delineate when examining domain-level representations of these antagonistic personality constructs. Additionally, results highlight how examining patterns of impulsivity facets may distinguish these personality features. Overall, findings may contribute to a more theoretically precise understanding of how impulsive processes differentiate socially aversive personality features.

Objectives: the specific objectives of the study are identified as follows: 1) to determine the influence of impulsivity on alcohol abuse, (2) to determine the peer group influence on alcohol abuse, (3) To determine the interplay of gender on alcohol abuse and (4) to determine whether interaction between impulsivity, peer group influence and gender has any an effect on alcohol abuse. Method: data was collected from three hundred (300) student participants randomly selected. Age of participants ranged from 17-40 years with mean age of 21. The statistical analysis used was a three way analysis of variance. Results: Results revealed a significant main effect of impulsivity on alcohol abuse, F (35.696, p < 0.001) as well as gender, F (20.869, p < 0.001) but there was no significant effect of peer group influence on alcohol abuse. In addition, it was noted that the interaction between the three variables had no significant effect in predicting alcohol abuse. Recommendations: Universities should create educational programmes for students and this should be done preferably in the first quarter of the year while recognizing that there are transition issues related to entering universities and adaptation could be negatively at its peak especially during the first few months, which makes it a critical period for prevention and intervention activities. / Thesis (Soc.Sc.(Clinical Psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2014

The current pair of experimental studies sought to further validate the role of positive urgency (acting rashly when in an extreme positive emotional state) as a risk factor for impulsive and maladaptive behavior. Previous research has supported the use of emotion-based dispositions to rash action in predicting a wide range of maladaptive acts. However, that research relied on self-reported behavior, thus lacking (1) tight experimental controls and (2) direct observation of risky behaviors. In the two experimental studies described here, I found that, among college students, (1) previous cross-sectional relationships between risk and positive urgency were supported (n = 104), (2) positive urgency significantly predicted negative outcomes on a gambling task following a positive mood manipulation (n = 94), and (3) positive urgency significantly predicted increases in beer consumption following positive mood induction (n = 33). Positive urgency's role was above and beyond previously identified risk factors; these findings combined with prior cross-sectional and longitudinal field studies provide strong support for the role of positive urgency in rash action.

Research suggests that substance use is a risk factor for increased suicidal ideation. This study explored the relationship between substance use, suicidal ideation, and impulsivity in a sample of college students and individuals seeking outpatient treatment. Participants were interviewed for information on severity of suicidal ideation and substance use. Participants completed the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire, the substance use section of the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, the Scale for Suicide Ideation, and the UPPS-P Impulsivity Behavior Scale. These measures were used to determine the amount of variance in suicidal ideation accounted for by substance use. Variables reflecting substance use classification, frequency, and severity were used to predict severity of suicidal ideation.

Objective: To investigate whether traumatic brain injury (TBI) plays a role in impulsivity, risk-taking, aggression and other behaviour problems in young offenders. Setting: Youth Offending Teams in the South West of England. Participants: Participants were 21 young offenders with community sentences, aged between 14 and 18 years old. Design: A cross-sectional correlational design. Main measures: A background questionnaire gathered information about the frequency and severity of TBIs, which was used to calculate the “TBI dose”. The Stoplight task and the Stroop test provided behavioural measures of risk-taking and interference control respectively. Self-report questionnaires provided measures of impulsivity (UPPS Impulsivity Scale), aggression (Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire) and behaviour (Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire). Results: Seventy-six per cent of the sample reported at least one TBI. TBI was not significantly correlated with either any of the other variables. Impulsivity was significantly positively correlated with reactive aggression. Conclusion: This exploratory study concludes that, in the current sample, TBI is not associated with impulsivity or risk-taking. Therefore, it is equally possible that impulsivity and reactive aggression pre-exist TBI. Future research should use a longitudinal design and a larger sample.

Personality is a topic that has been researched for a long time, however studies on non-human animals has only recently gained increased attention. In humans, impulsivity is a personality trait correlated with a wide variety of disorders. Impulsivity has also been shown to affect cognition, making it potentially having broad-ranged influences on the behavior of individuals. In this study, impulsivity was studied on white leghorn chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) in two tests: a motor self-regulation test and a self-control test. Motor self-regulation, or the ability to inhibit motor impulses caused by external stimuli, was tested and compared between males and females. In this test there were differences between the impulsive behavior of the sexes. Self-control, or the ability to wait for a bigger, but delayed reward over a small and instant reward, was also studied. There were no sex-differences in self-control. Further, no correlation was observed between self-control and motor self-regulation. This suggest that the tests investigate different aspects of impulsivity, highlighting the complexity of impulsive behavior. Because this work was also carried out to evaluate and develop the two tests for a chicken model, I also discuss how these tests could be improved in the future.