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Drug addiction endophenotypes: impulsive versus sensation-seeking personality traits.

ABSTRACT: Genetic factors have been implicated in the development of substance abuse disorders, but the role of pre-existing vulnerability in addiction is still poorly understood. Personality traits of impulsivity and sensation-seeking are highly prevalent in chronic drug users and have been linked with an increased risk for substance abuse. However, it has not been clear whether these personality traits are a cause or an effect of stimulant drug dependence.We compared self-reported levels of impulsivity and sensation-seeking between 30 sibling pairs of stimulant-dependent individuals and their biological brothers/sisters who did not have a significant drug-taking history and 30 unrelated, nondrug-taking control volunteers.Siblings of chronic stimulant users reported significantly higher levels of trait-impulsivity than control volunteers but did not differ from control volunteers with regard to sensation-seeking traits. Stimulant-dependent individuals reported significantly higher levels of impulsivity and sensation-seeking compared with both their siblings and control volunteers.These data indicate that impulsivity is a behavioral endophenotype mediating risk for stimulant dependence that may be exacerbated by chronic drug exposure, whereas abnormal sensation-seeking is more likely to be an effect of stimulant drug abuse.

SUBMITTER: Ersche KD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3485555 | biostudies-other | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Drug addiction endophenotypes: impulsive versus sensation-seeking personality traits.

Ersche Karen D KD Turton Abigail J AJ Pradhan Shachi S Bullmore Edward T ET Robbins Trevor W TW

Biological psychiatry 20100801 8

<h4>Background</h4>Genetic factors have been implicated in the development of substance abuse disorders, but the role of pre-existing vulnerability in addiction is still poorly understood. Personality traits of impulsivity and sensation-seeking are highly prevalent in chronic drug users and have been linked with an increased risk for substance abuse. However, it has not been clear whether these personality traits are a cause or an effect of stimulant drug dependence.<h4>Method</h4>We compared se ...[more]

PMID: 20678754

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Project description:Stress often has a negative influence on sports performance. Stress-induced decreases in performance can be especially disastrous for risk sports athletes, who often put their life at risk when practicing their sport. Therefore, it is of great importance to identify protective factors in stressful situations in risk sports. On average, risk sports athletes score extremely high on the personality trait sensation seeking. At the same time, theoretical considerations about dispositional mindfulness suggest that mindful athletes can handle stress more effectively. The main goal of this experiment is to examine the influence of sensation seeking and mindfulness on the stress response to a risk sport-specific stressor. To induce stress, 88 male students completed the Heidelberg Risk Sport-Specific Stress Test (HRSST) which utilizes fear of falling as the stressful event during a climbing exercise. Psychological (anxiety) and physiological (cortisol) responses were measured at multiple time points before and after the HRSST to determine the severity of the stress response. In reaction to the stressor, a significant increase in self-reported state anxiety, but no significant increase in cortisol were observed. The mindfulness subscale external observation correlated positively with anxiety in the climbing wall, sensation seeking and the anxiety scales after the jump correlated negatively and sensation seeking predicted anxiety subscales after the jump in hierarchical regression analyses. However, mindfulness did not predict anxiety measures. Neither sensation seeking nor mindfulness correlated significantly with cortisol levels. The results suggest that high sensation seekers perceive a risk sport-specific stressor as less stressful. The missing physiological response might be explained by the Cross-Stressor-Adaptation-Hypothesis and particularities of the sample. Good internal observers might be especially aware of their need of stimulation and new experiences, which in turn might explain the higher experience-seeking scores. Future studies should further examine the role of mindfulness in stressful situations and the interaction of its subscales with sensation seeking. The current experiment offers new possibilities for adjoining research fields at the interface between sports sciences, psychology and medicine: The findings can be transferred to high risk professions such as police officers, firefighters and military forces (e.g., for selection processes or for interventions).

Project description:BackgroundThe preference for immediate rewards and high sensation seeking are both potent risk factors for alcohol use disorder (AUD), but how they interact during intoxication is poorly understood. To model decision making linked to AUD risk, we tested heavy drinkers for impulsive choice (delay discounting with alcohol:money or money:money) and behavioral sensation seeking using a novel odor choice task. Laboratory tasks measured actual behavior with real contingencies. Our goals were to determine, in heavy drinkers, (i) alcohol's effects on delay discounting, and (ii) how AUD risk factors relate to delay discounting, and (iii) how delay discounting with alcohol choices compares with strictly monetary choices.MethodsThirty-five heavy drinkers (≥2 binges per month; age = 22.8 ± 2.2; 20 male; 5.8 ± 2.3 drinks/drinking day) performed cross-commodity discounting (CCD) of immediate alcohol vs. delayed money, a monetary delay discounting (DD), and behavioral sensation-seeking tasks. CCD and DD were performed while sober and during controlled alcohol infusion targeting 0.08 g/dl. The behavioral sensation-seeking task presented binary choices of odorants varying in intensity and novelty, and the risk of exposure to a malodorant.ResultsCCD and DD behaviors were highly correlated across conditions, mean r = 0.64. Alcohol increased delayed reward preference in DD, p = 0.001, but did not alter mean CCD, p > 0.16. However, alcohol-induced changes in CCD correlated with behavioral sensation seeking, such that higher sensation seekers' immediate alcohol preference increased when intoxicated, p = 0.042; self-reported sensation seeking was uncorrelated, ps > 0.08. Behavioral sensation seeking also correlated with "want" alcohol following a priming dose targeting 0.035 g/dl, p = 0.021. CCD and DD did not correlate with self-reported drinking problems or other personality risk traits.ConclusionsAlcohol increased impulsive alcohol choice in high sensation seekers, suggesting an interaction that may underlie impaired control of drinking, at least in a subset of heavy drinkers-consistent with models highlighting high novelty/sensation-seeking AUD subtypes. Discounting behavior overall appears to be a generalized process, and relatively stable across methods, repeated testing, and intoxication. These findings further support the utility of behavioral tasks in uncovering key behavioral phenotypes in AUD.

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Drug addiction endophenotypes: impulsive versus sensation-seeking personality traits.

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Drug addiction endophenotypes: impulsive versus sensation-seeking personality traits.

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