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Adolescence is a vulnerable period for externalizing behaviors (e.g., disruptive, rule-breaking behaviors including aggression, delinquency, or substance use) as the ability to self-regulate behaviors and emotions is still maturing. Impulsivity is a risk factor for externalizing behaviors, although the unique relationships between specific impulsivity facets and externalizing behavior development are unclear. Improved understanding of childhood predictors of adolescent externalizing behaviors could help reduce the risk of more serious and consequential externalizing behaviors in adolescence.

To better understand the effect of different facets of impulsivity in childhood on trajectories of externalizing behaviors from childhood into early adolescence, investigators including Meilin Jia-Richards, PhD (Staff Scientist); Amelia Versace, MD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry); and Frances Wang, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), examined available data from the Adolescent Behavior Cognitive Development (ABCD) study—a longitudinal study of biological and behavioral development and the impact of environmental, biological, and social factors on adolescent development. Participants included 11,874 demographically diverse youth. The investigators collected data on participants’ child-reported impulsivity and parent-reported externalizing behavior at baseline, and at subsequent one- and two-year follow-up assessments.

“Most research examining the relationships between impulsivity and externalizing behaviors has so far been cross-sectional, so our goal was to conduct a longitudinal study of how impulsivity may contribute to the development of externalizing behaviors. Using the UPPS-P framework of impulsivity also allowed us to examine which aspects of impulsivity may contribute the most towards externalizing behavior development. During adolescence, more serious externalizing behaviors, like substance use, tend to emerge, so it is important to understand how externalizing behaviors develop going into adolescence to help inform prevention efforts,” said Dr. Richards, first author of the study published in the Journal of Research in Personality.

The investigators reported that on average, externalizing behaviors decreased from the ages of 9–10 to 11–12 years old. Youth with the highest levels of externalizing behaviors in childhood showed the greatest declines in externalizing over time. Higher negative urgency and lack of premeditation predicted greater externalizing behaviors in both childhood and early adolescence, as well as steeper declines in externalizing behaviors across time.

“These results point to the unique importance of certain facets of impulsivity, namely negative urgency and lack of premeditation, in the development of externalizing problems. This further suggests that negative urgency and lack of premeditation may be the most useful early indicators of, or targets of prevention, to curb externalizing behaviors in youth,” said Dr. Wang, the study’s senior author.

Facets of trait impulsivity and their relationships to developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors from childhood into early adolescence
Jia-Richards M, Versace A, Bachrach RL, Wang FL.
Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 114, 2025, 104555, ISSN 0092-6566, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2024.104555.