Negative urgency: A personality predictor of externalizing behavior characterized by neuroticism, low conscientiousness, and disagreeableness.
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Negative urgency, the tendency to act rashly when distressed, is characterized by high Neuroticism, low Conscientiousness, and low Agreeableness. Because of this set of characteristics, the authors hypothesized that (1) negative urgency (NU) is a particularly important predictor of externalizing dysfunction; (2) traits that reflect primarily high Neuroticism predict internalizing dysfunction; and (3) traits that reflect primarily low Conscientiousness predict those types of externalizing dysfunction that include intense affect less strongly than does NU. In three studies, the authors showed that negative urgency concurrently predicted alcohol dependence symptoms in disordered women, drinking problems and smoker status in preadolescents, and aggression, risky sex, illegal drug use, drinking problems, and conduct disordered behavior in college students. High Neuroticism traits predicted internalizing dysfunction but predicted none of these externalizing criteria beyond negative urgency. Low Conscientiousness did not add to prediction from negative urgency, except in a few cases. The tendency toward affect-driven rash action may underlie many externalizing behaviors.
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Negative urgency has been shown to mediate the association between irritability, reactive aggression, and excessive drinking.
“Negative urgency has been shown to mediate the association between irritability, reactive aggression, and excessive drinking (Cyders And Smith 2008; Settles et al. 2012; Coskunpinar et al. 2013; Smith And Cyders 2016; VanderVeen et al. 2016).”
From Decoding the bidirectional links between alcohol misuse and aggression: toward a unified translational framework (2026) · cites this paper as Settles et al. 2012
The Results sections on aggressive behavior and problem drinking report that negative urgency predicted both outcomes. The paper does not show that it mediates an association involving irritability or specifically reactive aggression; prediction alone does not establish mediation. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredNNE is prospectively linked with a broad range of negative physical and mental health outcomes, including harmful alcohol use, sleep problems, suicide risk, and others, and has been characterized as among the most important risk factors in public health.
“NNE is prospectively linked with such a broad range of negative physical and mental health outcomes, including harmful alcohol use, sleep problems, suicide risk, and others that it has been characterized as among the most important risk factors in public health (49–52).”
From Pilot outcomes and exploration of treatment mechanisms using a culturally adapted version of the unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders to improve mental health symptoms, alcohol misuse, functional outcomes, and sleep quality in emergency responders (2025) · cites this paper as [52]
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- Authors
- Settles, R. E., Fischer, S., Cyders, M. A., Combs, J. L., Gunn, R. L., & Smith, G. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Kentucky (US)
- University of Georgia (US)
- Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (US)
- Indiana University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Abnormal Psychology
- Published
- 2012-02
- Volume
- 121
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 160-172
- ISSN
- 0021-843X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1846
- PMC
- PMC3299541
- OpenAlex
- W2028134854
- Cited by
- 277
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 13.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Journal of Abnormal Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (RO1 AA016166, F 31 AA014469, F 31 AA016265)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (T32 DA007304)
- University of Georgia
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- negative urgency, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, Big Five personality traits, externalizing problems, alcoholism, smoking, aggression, sexual risk behavior, drug use, conduct disorder, emotional reactivity, preadolescents, university students
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Anxiety Disorders, Child, Consciousness, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Male, Middle Aged, Neurotic Disorders, Personality, Risk-Taking, Stress, Psychological, Substance-Related Disorders, Young Adult
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