Measuring impulsivity in daily life: The Momentary Impulsivity Scale.

Abstract

Impulsivity is a core feature of many psychiatric disorders. Traditionally, impulsivity has been assessed using retrospective questionnaires or laboratory tasks. Both approaches neglect intraindividual variability in impulsivity and do not capture impulsivity as it occurs in real-world settings. The goal of the current study was to provide a method for assessing impulsivity in daily life that provides both between-individual and within-individual information. Participants with borderline personality disorder (BPD; n = 67) or a depressive disorder (DD; n = 38) carried an electronic diary for 28 days and responded to 9 impulsivity items up to 6 times per day. Item distributions and iterative exploratory factor analysis (EFA) results were examined to select the items that best captured momentary impulsivity. A brief 4-item scale was created that can be used for the assessment of momentary impulsivity. Model fit was good for both within- and between-individual EFA. As expected, the BPD group showed significantly higher scores on our Momentary Impulsivity Scale than the DD group, and the resulting scale was moderately correlated with common trait impulsivity scales.

Undifferentiated negative affect and impulsivity in borderline personality and depressive disorders: A momentary perspective.

“…Tomko and colleagues (2014a) previously noted the high comorbidity of both anxiety (85.9%) and mood (63.1%) disorders in the BPD individuals and DD individuals (65.8% and 100.0%, respectively) in the current study. Furthermore, surveys of nationally representative samples have shown that the comorbidity of anxiety and mood disorders for BPD individuals in particular is comparable or even higher (e.g., 74–85%; Grant et al, 2008; Tomko et al, 2014b).…”

“…The current study used an impulsivity measure designed specifically for EMA ( Momentary Impulsivity Scale ; Tomko et al, 2014a), in addition to questionnaire trait measures of impulsivity ( UPPS Impulsivity Scale , Whiteside & Lynam, 2001; Barratt Impulsiveness Scale- Version 11 , BIS-11, Patton, Stanford, & Barratt, 1995), to examine the relationship between undifferentiated affect and impulsivity. We expected undifferentiated negative affect to be positively associated with both trait (UPPS, BIS-11) and occasion (EMA) impulsivity at the general (across the 28-day study period) and at the occasion level.…”

Effects of marijuana use on impulsivity and hostility in daily life

“…Further research employing laboratory controls and additional measurements of social cognition are needed to determine if interpersonal processing is altered while under the influence of marijuana. Further research should also examine more fine grained momentary assessments, e.g., the Momentary Impulsivity Scale (Tomko et al, 2014), to elucidate the exact timing of changes in impulsivity and hostility relative to use.…”

Family dynamics and alcohol and marijuana use among adolescents: The mediating role of negative emotional symptoms and sensation seeking

“…In this respect, a number of studies argue that family conflicts lead to negative emotional states in adolescents (Cummings, Koss, & Davies, 2015), and that such negative emotional states can co-occur with other impulsive behaviors (Saddichhaa & Schuetzb, 2014;Tomko et al, 2014). This comorbidity occurs due to the fact that internal problems (negative emotional symptoms) tend to be expressed through external ones (Cataldo, Nobile, Lorusso, Battaglia, & Molteni, 2005;Kolvin & Sadowski, 2001), such as sensation seeking, which consist in the exploration of situations and new and intense sensations that usually go hand-in-hand with social, physical and/or legal risks (Zuckerman, 1994).…”