Psychometrically improved, abbreviated versions of three classic measures of impulsivity and self-control

Parent-Reported BIS/BAS Scales for Children: Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance Across Age and Gender

The present study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Approach System (BIS/BAS) scales parent-report in children and adolescents ( N = 1,444, 58% girls) across age (Group 1, 2-5 years; Group 2, 6-9 years; Group 3, 10-13 years; Group 4, 14-18 years old) and gender. The results consistently underscored a four-factor structure, resembling the original factor structure, with one BIS-factor and three BAS-factors. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed full measurement invariance across gender as well as across Group 1 and 2, and Group 2 and 3. Strong measurement invariance was found across Group 3 and 4, Group 1 and 3, and Group 2 and 4. Configural and metric invariance was found across Group 1 and 4. Hence, mean-level BIS/BAS scores can be compared across gender and age although comparison between preschool children (Group 1) and late secondary school children (Group 4) should be done with caution.

The NIH Science of Behavior Change Program: Transforming the science through a focus on mechanisms of change

The goal of the NIH Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) Common Fund Program is to provide the basis for an experimental medicine approach to behavior change that focuses on identifying and measuring the mechanisms that underlie behavioral patterns we are trying to change. This paper frames the development of the program within a discussion of the substantial disease burden in the U.S. attributable to behavioral factors, and details our strategies for breaking down the disease- and condition-focused silos in the behavior change field to accelerate discovery and translation. These principles serve as the foundation for our vision for a unified science of behavior change at the NIH and in the broader research community.

Predictors of Adult E-Cigarette Users Vaporizing Cannabis Using E-Cigarettes and Vape-Pens

BACKGROUND

Given limited extant research, we assessed the use of portable, battery-powered cannabis vaporizers by adult e-cigarette users.

METHODS

522 adult vapers completed an online survey. Demographics; lifetime and past-month cannabis vaporization via e-cigarettes/vape-pens; preferences for hash oil, D-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) wax, or dried buds; and cannabis vaporization beliefs and motives were examined. Demographics, age of e-cigarette onset, e-cigarette use frequency, state-level legal status of cannabis, cannabis vaping beliefs/motives, and impulsivity were examined as predictors of lifetime cannabis vaporization, past-month cannabis vaporization, and cannabis vaping frequency.

RESULTS

E-cigarette users reported lifetime (17.8%) and past-month (11.5%) cannabis vaporization. Vapers preferred hash oil (LT/PM 45.5/47.5%), THC wax (15.2/32.2%), and dried buds (39.4/35.6%). Motivations to vape cannabis included: it tastes better (39.3/37.9%), is healthier (42.9/39.7%), is easier to conceal/hide (35.7/46.6%), does not smell as strong (42.9/39.7%), is more convenient (42.9/27.6%), and produces a stronger/better high (58.1/40.7%) than smoking cannabis. Lifetime and past-month cannabis vaporization, respectively, were associated with initiating e-cigarette use at an earlier age (odds ratio (OR) = 0.09/0.88), being impulsive (OR = 2.25/3.23), having poor self-control (OR = 2.23/1.85), and vaporizing cannabis because it is easier to conceal/hide (OR = 2.45/2.48) or is more convenient than smoking cannabis (OR = 5.02/2.83). Frequency of vaping cannabis was associated with heavier e-cigarette use (η_p² = 0.10) and impulsivity (η_p² = 0.09).

CONCLUSIONS

Adult e-cigarette users are vaporizing cannabis using e-cigarettes/vape-pens. Efforts to curb cannabis vaporization may benefit from targeting impulsivity in users and regulating device features that facilitate or promote convenient, inconspicuous cannabis use.

Vaping to lose weight: Predictors of adult e-cigarette use for weight loss or control

INTRODUCTION

Some traditional cigarette smokers are motivated to smoke to lose weight or control their weight. The current study evaluated whether a subset of adult e-cigarette users reported vaping to lose or control their weight and examined potential predictors of vaping for weight management.

METHODS

Adult e-cigarette users (n=459) who reported wanting to lose weight or maintain their weight completed an anonymous online survey. Participants reported on demographics, vaping frequency, e-cigarette nicotine content, cigarette smoking status, preferred e-cigarette/e-liquid flavors, current weight status (i.e., overweight, underweight), use of dieting strategies associated with anorexia and bulimia, lifetime history of binge eating, self-discipline, and impulse control. Binary logistic regression was used to examine whether vaping for weight loss/control was associated with the aforementioned variables.

RESULTS

Participants who reported vaping for weight loss/control (13.5%) were more likely to vape frequently (adjOR=1.15; 95% CI [1.00, 1.31]); be overweight (adjOR=2.80; [1.33, 5.90]); restrict calories (adjOR=2.23; [1.13, 4.42]); have poor impulse control (adjOR=0.59; [0.41, 0.86]); and prefer coffee- (adjOR=2.92; [1.47, 5.80]) or vanilla-flavored e-liquid (adjOR=7.44; [1.56, 36.08]).

CONCLUSIONS

A subset of adult e-cigarette users reported vaping for weight loss/control, raising concerns about expanded, scientifically unsubstantiated uses of e-cigarettes. Identifying where individuals obtain information about vaping for weight loss (e.g., e-cigarette ads, Internet) and whether weight-related motives promote e-cigarette initiation among e-cigarette naïve individuals is important to informing regulatory efforts. Further research also is needed to better understand the link between e-liquid flavors and weight loss motivations.

Cultural consonance, deprivation, and psychological responses for niche construction

Cultural consonance is a measure of culturally encoded goals relevant to psychological, behavioral, and health responses to deprivation. Similar to extrinsic mortality, low cultural consonance and an associated inability to predict adaptive outcomes may activate impulsivity, delay discounting, and reward seeking. Low cultural consonance could promote “fast life history” in low-quality environments and motivate cultural niche construction for local adaptation.

Right inferior frontal cortex activity correlates with tolcapone responsivity in problem and pathological gamblers

Failures of self-regulation in problem and pathological gambling (PPG) are thought to emerge from failures of top-down control, reflected neurophysiologically in a reduced capacity of prefrontal cortex to influence activity within subcortical structures. In patients with addictions, these impairments have been argued to alter evaluation of reward within dopaminergic neuromodulatory systems. Previously we demonstrated that augmenting dopamine tone in frontal cortex via use of tolcapone, an inhibitor of the dopamine-degrading enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), reduced delay discounting, a measure of impulsivity, in healthy subjects. To evaluate this potentially translational approach to augmenting prefrontal inhibitory control, here we hypothesized that increasing cortical dopamine tone would reduce delay discounting in PPG subjects in proportion to its ability to augment top-down control. To causally test this hypothesis, we administered the COMT inhibitor tolcapone in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study of 17 PPG subjects who performed a delay discounting task while functional MRI images were obtained. In this subject population, we found that greater BOLD activity during the placebo condition within the right inferior frontal cortex (RIFC), a region thought to be important for inhibitory control, correlated with greater declines in impulsivity on tolcapone versus placebo. Intriguingly, connectivity between RIFC and the right striatum, and not the level of activity within RIFC itself, increased on tolcapone versus placebo. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that tolcapone-mediated increases in top-down control may reduce impulsivity in PPG subjects, a finding with potential translational relevance for gambling disorders, and for behavioral addictions in general.

Revising the BIS/BAS Scale to study development: Measurement invariance and normative effects of age and sex from childhood through adulthood

Carver and White's (1994) Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS) Scales have been useful tools for studying individual differences in reward-punishment sensitivity; however, their factor structure and invariance across development have not been well tested. In the current study, we examined the factor structure of the BIS/BAS Scales across 5 age groups: 6- to 10-year-old children (N = 229), 11- to 13-year-old early adolescents (N = 311), 14- to 16-year-old late adolescents (N = 353), 18- to 22-year-old young adults (N = 844), and 30- to 45-year-old adults (N = 471). Given poor fit of the standard 4-factor model (BIS, Reward Responsivity, Drive, Fun Seeking) in the literature, we conducted exploratory factor analyses in half of the participants and identified problematic items across age groups. The 4-factor model showed poor fit in our sample, whereas removing the BAS Fun Seeking subscale and problematic items from the remaining subscales improved fit in confirmatory factor analyses conducted with the second half of the participants. The revised model showed strict invariance across age groups and by sex, indicating consistent factor structure, item loadings, thresholds, and unique or residual variances. Additionally, in our cross-sectional data, we observed nonlinear relations between age and subscale scores, where scores tended to be higher in young adulthood than in childhood and later adulthood. Furthermore, sex differences emerged across development; adolescent and adult females had higher BIS scores than males in this age range, whereas sex differences were not observed in childhood. These differences may help us to understand the rise in internalizing psychopathology in adolescence, particularly in females. Future developmental studies are warranted to examine the impact of rewording problematic items.

Contingency management improves smoking cessation treatment outcomes among highly impulsive adolescent smokers relative to cognitive behavioral therapy

BACKGROUND

Impulsive adolescents have difficulty quitting smoking. We examined if treatments that provide behavioral incentives for abstinence improve treatment outcomes among impulsive adolescent smokers, who have been shown to be highly sensitive to reward.

METHODS

We ran secondary data analyses on 64 teen smokers (mean age=16.36 [1.44]; cigarettes/day=13.97 [6.61]; 53.1% female; 90.6% Caucasian) who completed a four-week smoking cessation trial to determine whether impulsive adolescents differentially benefit from receiving cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), contingency management (CM), or the combination of the two (CM/CBT). Indices of treatment efficacy included self-report percent days abstinent and end of treatment biochemically-confirmed 7-day point prevalence abstinence (EOT abstinence). We assessed self-reported impulsivity using the Brief Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. We used univariate Generalized Linear Modeling to examine main effects and interactions of impulsivity and treatment condition as predictors of self-reported abstinence, and exact logistic regression to examine EOT abstinence.

RESULTS

CM/CBT and CM were comparably effective in promoting abstinence, so analyses were conducted comparing the efficacy of CBT to treatments with a CM component (i.e., CM and CM/CBT). CBT and deficient self-regulation predicted lower self-reported abstinence rates within the total analytic sample. Treatments containing CM were more effective than CBT in predicting 1) self-reported abstinence among behaviorally impulsive adolescents (% days abstinent: CM 77%; CM/CBT 81%; CBT 30%) and 2) EOT point prevalence abstinence among behaviorally impulsive adolescents and adolescents with significant deficits in self-regulation.

CONCLUSION

CM-based interventions may improve the low smoking cessation rates previously observed among impulsive adolescent smokers.

N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonism has differential effects on alcohol craving and drinking in heavy drinkers

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, memantine (0, 20, 40 mg/d), upon alcohol drinking and craving in heavy drinkers with or without a family history (FH) of alcoholism, and to explore the modulatory influence of the presence of impulsivity on these outcomes.

METHODS

Ninety-two, nontreatment-seeking, heavy drinkers received memantine or placebo for 8 days. On the eighth day, they received a priming dose of alcohol followed by a 3-hour period of alcohol access.

RESULTS

Memantine at a dose of 20 mg reduced alcohol craving but did not influence alcohol drinking. No effects of FH were observed. In participants with higher baseline levels of impulsivity, 40 mg of memantine reduced alcohol craving but increased alcohol drinking and alcohol-induced stimulation.

CONCLUSIONS

NMDA receptor signaling may play divergent roles in mediating alcohol cue-induced craving and alcohol drinking in heavy drinkers. The potential efficacy of memantine as monotherapy for alcohol use disorders may be limited by its tendency to disinhibit drinking in some individuals.

Predictors of middle school students' interest in participating in an incentive-based tobacco prevention and cessation program in connecticut

Behavioral incentives have been used to encourage smoking cessation in older adolescents, but the acceptability of incentives to promote a smoke-free lifestyle in younger adolescents is unknown. To inform the development of novel, effective, school-based interventions for youth, we assessed middle school students' interest in participating in an incentive-based tobacco abstinence program. We surveyed 988 students (grades 6–8) attending three Connecticut middle schools to determine whether interest in program participation varied as a function of (1) intrapersonal factors (i.e., demographic characteristics (sex, age, race), smoking history, and trait impulsivity) and/or (2) aspects of program design (i.e., prize type, value, and reward frequency). Primary analyses were conducted using multiple regression. A majority of students (61.8%) reported interest in program participation. Interest did not vary by gender, smoking risk status, or offering cash prizes. However, younger students, non-Caucasian students, behaviorally impulsive students, and students with higher levels of self-regulation were more likely to report interest. Inexpensive awards (e.g., video games) offered monthly motivated program interest. In sum, middle school students reported high levels of interest in an incentive-based program to encourage a tobacco-free lifestyle. These formative data can inform the design of effective, incentive-based smoking cessation and prevention programs in middle schools.