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

CANETO, FLORENCIA; PILATTI, ANGELINA; PAUTASSI R.M.

Cordoba

Congreso; IX International meeting of the Latin American Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (LASBRA); 2019

Latin American Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (LASBRA)

EFFECT OF IMPULSIVITY, RISK TAKING AND COGNITIVE BIAS ONALCOHOL USE IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTSFlorencia Caneto​1,2​, ​Angelina Pilatti​1,2​ & Ricardo Marcos Pautassi​2, 31​Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi-UNC-CONICET). Facultad de Psicología,Universidad Nacional de Córdoba​.2​Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba​.3​Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra (INIMEC-CONICET-Universidad Nacionalde Córdoba), Córdoba, Argentina.The present study examined the association of trait and behavioral impulsivity, risk taking andcognitive bias on frequency and quantity of alcohol in children and adolescents. Participantswere children and adolescents (n = 90; ​M age = 14.34 SE= .17; 50% female) that took part in alarger longitudinal study (N=1762; ​M age = 12.59 SE= .03; 45.7% male) were they completedthe 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 toparticipate in the present study. Participants completed a paper-and-pencil survey measuringsociodemographic variables and alcohol drinking (drinking frequency and quantity) and threecomputerized tasks to assessed risk taking (Balloon Analogue Risk Task [BART]), responseinhibition (Go Stop Task) and cognitive bias towards alcohol signals (Emotional Stroop).Participants completed the tasks in individual sessions. Results of bivariate correlations showedthat age, lack of premeditation (one of the five dimensions of trait-like impulsivity), and risktaking were significantly positively associated with frequency of alcohol use; while only age wassignificantly associated with quantity of alcohol use. We conducted a hierarchical regressionanalyses I including age and trait-like impulsivity in the first step and risk-taking, responseinhibition and cognitive bias included in the second step. For frequency of alcohol drinking asthe dependent variable, all these variables explained 47% of the variance. Age, trait-likeimpulsivity and risk-taking had a significant positive effect on frequency. For drinking quantityas the dependent variable, only age and trait-like impulsivity was significantly positivelyassociated with greater alcohol use (R​2 = .29). Altogether, these findings failed to find a robusteffect 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 significant effect on drinking frequency even aftercontrolling or chronological ager; suggesting these variables are relevant to discriminate andidentify children and adolescents at greater risk for engaging in alcohol use.