Reciprocity of Cognitive and Emotional Antecedents to Bullying: Bidirectional Relations Between Cognitive Impulsivity and Anger

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility that cognitive and affective variables form a reciprocal relationship when it comes to predicting future bullying perpetration. To this end, the bidirectional relationship between cognitive impulsivity and anger was evaluated in an effort to determine whether both cross-lagged pathways contributed to a rise in bullying behavior. The reciprocal hypothesis was tested in a sample of 1,160 early adolescents (567 boys, 593 girls) from the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Violence (ISBSV). Cognitive impulsivity and anger were cross-lagged at Waves 1 and 2 of the ISBSV, after which they were correlated with bullying perpetration at Wave 3 in a three-wave longitudinal path analysis. Results from the path analysis identified the presence of a significant bidirectional association between Cognitive Impulsivity-1 and Anger-2 and between Anger-1 and Cognitive Impulsivity-2, with both cross-lags effectively predicting future bullying behavior.

Neuroanatomical Correlates of Impulsive Choices and Risky Decision Making in Young Chronic Tobacco Smokers: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

Introduction: Impairments in the multifaceted neuropsychological construct of cognitive impulsivity are a main feature of chronic tobacco smokers. According to the literature, these cognitive impairments are relevant for the initiation and maintenance of the smoking behavior. However, the neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive impulsivity in chronic smokers remain under-investigated.Methods: A sample of 28 chronic smokers (mean age = 28 years) not affected by polysubstance dependence and 24 matched non-smoker controls was recruited. Voxel Based Morphometry (VBM) was employed to assess Gray Matter (GM) volume differences between smokers and non-smokers. The relationships between GM volume and behavioral manifestations of impulsive choices (5 trial adjusting delay discounting task, ADT-5) and risky decision making (Cambridge Gambling Task, CGT) were also investigated.Results: VBM results revealed GM volume reductions in cortical and striatal brain regions of chronic smokers compared to non-smokers. Additionally, smokers showed heightened impulsive choices (p < 0.01, Cohen's f = 0.50) and a riskier decision- making process (p < 0.01, Cohen's f = 0.40) compared to non-smokers. GM volume reductions in the left Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) correlated with impaired impulsive and risky choices, while GM volume reductions in the left Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex (VLPFC) and Caudate correlated with heightened impulsive choices. Reduced GM volume in the left VLPFC correlated with younger age at smoking initiation (mean = 16 years).Conclusion: Smokers displayed significant GM volume reductions and related cognitive impulsivity impairments compared to non-smoker individuals. Longitudinal studies would be required to assess whether these impairments underline neurocognitive endophenotypes or if they are a consequence of tobacco exposure on the adolescent brain.

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: An Observational Study in a Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is the self-inflicted destruction of body tissues without suicidal intent with a prevalence of 1.5% to 6.7% in the youth population. At present, it is not clear which emotional and behavioral components are specifically associated with it. Therefore, we studied NSSI in a clinical sample of youth using the Ottawa Self-injury Inventory and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11. The Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the numerical responses provided to the tests. We found 54 patients with NSSI, with a mean age of 17 years. Scores were analyzed in the total sample and in four subgroups. In the total sample, Internal Emotion and External Emotion Regulation, Craving, Non-Planning and Total Impulsivity were significantly associated with NSSI. There were statistically significant differences in Craving between patients with multiple NSSI episodes, suicide attempts and multiple injury modes and patients of other corresponding subgroups, in Internal Emotion Regulation, Sensation Seeking and Motor Impulsivity between NSSI patients with suicide attempts and no suicide attempts, and in Cognitive Impulsivity between NSSI patients with multiple injury modes and one injury mode. It is necessary to carefully evaluate the components underlying NSSI in order to activate personalized treatment options.

Cognitive Impulsivity as a Mediator of the Parental Knowledge-Childhood Aggression Relationship

In a previous study, reactive criminal thinking or cognitive impulsivity mediated the relationship between parental knowledge and delinquency. This study sought to determine whether cognitive impulsivity also mediated the relationship between parental knowledge and childhood aggression. A path analysis was performed on a sample of 438 early adolescent boys ( n = 206) and girls ( n = 232) from the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Violence using three waves of non-overlapping data. As predicted, cognitive impulsivity mediated the relationship between parental knowledge and childhood aggression, but cognitive insensitivity did not. The results of this study provide ongoing support for the general conceptual argument that childhood aggression parallels delinquency in certain respects and that parental knowledge deters both future delinquency and childhood aggression by reducing the cognitive impulsivity that is central to the behavioral patterns of delinquency and childhood aggression.

Parental Control as a Stimulus for Youth Control: Mediating the Parental Knowledge–Child Delinquency Relationship With Cognitive Impulsivity

Parental knowledge was investigated as a foil to reactive criminal thinking, as represented in the current study by cognitive impulsivity. Cognitive impulsivity and neutralization were tested as mediators of the parental knowledge–child delinquency relationship in 1,734 early adolescents (811 boys, 923 girls) from the Gang Resistance and Education Training (GREAT) study. A path analysis of the first three waves of GREAT data revealed that Wave 2 cognitive impulsivity but not Wave 2 neutralization techniques negatively mediated the link between Wave 1 parental knowledge and Wave 3 child delinquency. These results were replicated in variables measured at Waves 2 through 4. Parental control, in the form of parental knowledge and monitoring, may therefore prevent delinquency by countering cognitive impulsivity.

Sex differences in nicotine-induced impulsivity and its reversal with bupropion in rats

Background: Enhancement in cognitive impulsivity and the resulting alterations in decision making serve as a contributing factor for the development and maintenance of substance-use disorders. Nicotine-induced increases in impulsivity has been previously reported in male humans and rodents. Although the potential for sex differences in nicotine-induced impulsivity has not been examined. Aims and methods: In the present study, male and female Sprague Dawley rats were submitted to a delay discounting task, in which several consecutive measures of self-control were taken. Firstly, rats were tested with vehicle, and next with nicotine doses of 0.4 and 0.8 mg/kg. Thereafter, chronic treatment with bupropion started, and the animals were tested again. Half the animals continued to receive 0.8 mg/kg of nicotine, while the rest received nicotine and also a daily dose of 30 mg/kg of bupropion. Results: When the animals were first tested with nicotine, female rats showed a significant nicotine dose dependent increase of impulsive behaviour, whereas male rats only showed a decrease on their elections of the larger but delayed reward under the highest dose of 0.8 mg/kg of nicotine. Treatment with bupropion blocked the effect of nicotine on decision making in female rats, as they showed results close to their baseline levels. On the other hand, bupropion did not affect the nicotine-induced delay discounting in male rats. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate sexually dimorphic effects of nicotine on cognitive impulsivity which may help to shed light on nicotine use vulnerabilities observed in women.

The 21-item Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Revised (BIS-R-21): An alternative three-factor model

Background and aimsDue to its important role in both healthy groups and those with physical, mental and behavioral disorders, impulsivity is a widely researched construct. Among various self-report questionnaires of impulsivity, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale is arguably the most frequently used measure. Despite its international use, inconsistencies in the suggested factor structure of its latest version, the BIS-11, have been observed repeatedly in different samples. The goal of the present study was therefore to test the factor structure of the BIS-11 in several samples.MethodsExploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on two representative samples of Hungarian adults (N = 2,457; N = 2,040) and a college sample (N = 765).ResultsAnalyses did not confirm the original model of the measure in any of the samples. Based on explorative factor analyses, an alternative three-factor model (cognitive impulsivity; behavioral impulsivity; and impatience/restlessness) of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale is suggested. The pattern of the associations between the three factors and aggression, exercise, smoking, alcohol use, and psychological distress supports the construct validity of this new model.DiscussionThe new measurement model of impulsivity was confirmed in two independent samples. However, it requires further cross-cultural validation to clarify the content of self-reported impulsivity in both clinical and nonclinical samples.