A meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of mood inductions in eliciting emotion-based behavioral risk-taking and craving in the laboratory.

Urgency research supports the role of emotions in risk-taking and craving. However, much of this work is based in self-report. It is not yet known whether existing experimental methods can effectively induce emotion-based risk-taking and craving. The present meta-analysis quantified the effectiveness of mood inductions in inducing risk-taking and craving in the laboratory. We also examined potential moderators, including participant factors, changes in emotional arousal, and study design factors. For negative mood inductions, the degree of changes in risk-taking, k = 35, Hedge's g (SE) = .12 (.04), 95% CI [.04, .21], and craving, k = 37, Hedge's g (SE) = .30 (.06), 95% CI [.19, .40] were small. Increases in emotional arousal were significantly related to increases in craving (B* = .26). For positive mood inductions, there was no significant change in risk-taking, k = 18, Hedge's g (SE) = .17 (.11), 95% CI [-.04, .38] nor craving, k = 8, Hedge's g (SE) = -.10 (.10), 95% CI [-.31, .10]; however, false positive feedback produced the largest increase in risk-taking. Study samples using guided imagery produced a moderate decrease in risk-taking. Overall, existing negative mood inductions increased risk-taking and craving in the laboratory to a small degree. Existing positive mood inductions failed to elicit risk-taking or craving, although the literature in this domain was sparser. We suggest that there is a great need to develop and optimize mood induction methods to better study emotion-based risk-taking and craving in the laboratory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Implementation of a Brief Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Group in High Schools for At-Risk Youth: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a developmental period marked by engagement in risk-taking behaviors, especially among impulsive or emotionally dysregulated youth. Thus, interventions that teach skills to reduce the risk of negative outcomes associated with emotional dysregulation are required. Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs have been developed to address both adolescent emotional dysregulation and risk-taking behaviors; however, current programs have mostly been implemented among younger youth and are used as a tier 1 universal intervention rather than a targeted tier 2 intervention for youth identified with emotional regulation difficulties. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to address the need for SEL programming that can be delivered in schools, particularly for older youth who have difficulties with emotional or behavioral dysregulation, to reduce the risk of health-risk behaviors among this population. METHODS: Here, we outline the implementation of an SEL intervention titled Going 4 Goals, a 9-session adaptation of the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) program delivered to at-risk high school students in a school setting. The primary objectives of the study are to test whether participating in the skills group intervention produces significant increases in the core DBT-A skills of mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness, while also producing significant decreases in substance use and risky behaviors. These primary outcomes are based on changes in participant scores between baseline and after the intervention and follow-ups at 1, 3, and 6 months compared with a control group of youth participating in the school's health curriculum at the same time points. Qualitative interviews will also be conducted with intervention participants and school staff to examine acceptability and facilitators of and barriers to the intervention. RESULTS: A total of 171 participants across 13 groups had been enrolled in the intervention, with data collection ending December 2021. Data analysis will begin in the spring of 2022, with expected results to be published in the spring of 2023. CONCLUSIONS: This paper describes the protocol of the 9-session school-based adaptation of the DBT-A intervention and discusses the strengths and limitations of the study and future directions. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/32490.

Facial Affect Sensitivity Training for Young Children with Emerging CU Traits: An Experimental Therapeutics Approach.

OBJECTIVE: This article delineates best practices in the application of the experimental therapeutics framework for evaluating interventions within the context of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), offering a methodological primer and guiding framework for this approach. We illustrate these practices using an ongoing clinical trial conducted within the framework of a National Institute of Mental Health exploratory phased-innovation award for the development of psychosocial therapeutic interventions for mental disorders (R61/R33), describing the implementation of a novel "Facial Affect Sensitivity Training" (FAST) intervention for children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits. CU traits (e.g., lack of guilt or remorse, low empathy, shallow affect) are an established risk factor for persistent and severe youth misconduct, which reflect impairment in identified neurocognitive mechanisms that interfere with child socialization, and predict poor treatment outcomes, even with well-established treatments for disruptive behavior. METHOD: We outline the stages, goals, and best practices for an experimental therapeutics framework. In the FAST trial, we assert that impaired sensitivity for emotional distress cues (fear and/or sadness) is mechanistically linked to CU traits in children, and that by targeting sensitivity to facial affect directly via a computerized automated feedback and incentive system, we can exert downstream effects on CU traits. RESULTS: In the context of an open pilot trial, we found preliminary support for feasibility and mechanism engagement using FAST. CONCLUSIONS: We summarize pilot study limitations and how they are being addressed in the R61/R33 RCTs, as well as challenges and future directions for psychosocial experimental therapeutics.

The Dickman Impulsivity Inventory: Validation and measurement invariance among Portuguese young adults.

The Dickman Impulsivity Inventory (DII) measures impulsive personality related to both negative and positive behaviors and characteristics. The main aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the DII among a Southern-European sample of Portuguese young adults. Our convenience sample (N = 429, M = 22.11 years, SD = 3.35, range = 18-42), composed of women (n = 237, M = 22.08 years, SD = 3.35, age range = 18-42) and men (n = 192, M = 22.14 years, SD = 3.34, range = 18-35), was collected from a university context. The two-factor latent structure of the DII composed of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity was supported, although three items had to be removed due to low standardized loadings, and strong cross-gender measurement invariance was established. Our analyses of the DII also provided evidence of criterion-related validity, known-groups validity, and internal consistency/reliability. Our findings support the use of the DII among Portuguese young adults.

Examination of the SUPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale among Male and Female Youth: Psychometrics and Invariance.

The UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale is one of the most used and easily administered self-report measures of impulsive traits. The main objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the shorter SUPPS-P scale among a school sample of 470 youth (Mage = 15.89 years, SD = 1.00) from Portugal, subdivided into males (n = 257, Mage = 15.97 years, SD = 0.98) and females (n = 213, Mage = 15.79 years, SD = 1.03). Confirmatory factor analysis results revealed that the latent five-factor structure (i.e., Negative urgency, Lack of perseverance, Lack of premeditation, Sensation seeking, and Positive urgency) obtained adequate fit and strong measurement invariance demonstrated across sex. The SUPPS-P scale also demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency, discriminant and convergent (e.g., with measures of youth delinquency, aggression) validities, and criterion-related validity (e.g., with crime seriousness). Findings support the use of the SUPPS-P scale in youth. Given the importance of adolescence as a critical period characterized by increases in impulsive behaviors, having a short, valid, reliable, and easily administered assessment of impulsive tendencies is important and clinically impactful.

Shared Neural Correlates Underlying Addictive Disorders and Negative Urgency.

Negative urgency is a personality trait reflecting the tendency to act rashly in response to extreme negative emotions and is considered a transdiagnostic endophenotype for problematic levels of addictive behaviors. Recent research has begun to identify the neural correlates of negative urgency, many of which appear to overlap with neural circuitry underlying addictive disorders associated with negative urgency. The goal of this qualitative review is to summarize the extant literature concerning the neural correlates of negative urgency, to compare these correlates with those implicated with addictive disorders, and to propose new ways to begin to leverage such findings in treatment and intervention approaches. We also address current limitations in the field and make recommendations for areas for future growth in this research domain. Patterns of structure and function in the ventral striatum, frontal regions, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and amygdala are common across addictive disorders and are related to both real-world risky behaviors and self-report measures of negative urgency. We propose that the time has come to move past considering this trait and these disorders as completely separate entities, and instead for the field to consider how general patterns of convergence across these disorders can lead to a more transdiagnostic approach to treatment and intervention. We suggest future work utilize these convergent patterns in the development of animal models of negative urgency, in the identification and testing of prime pharmacological and physiological interventions, and as objective biomarkers to be used when testing behavioral, pharmacological, and physiological intervention effectiveness. Little empirical work has been done to date in these areas and advances in these nascent fields would advance understanding and applications of the neuroscience of negative urgency.