Are obsessive-compulsive symptoms impulsive, compulsive or both?

The relationships between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and distinct forms of impulsivity and compulsivity are unclear. Such examination would be relevant in terms of how best to classify psychiatric disorders and in understanding candidate 'traits' that extend across a continuum between normalcy and clinical disorders.

515 young adults (aged 18-29years) completed the Padua Inventory and undertook detailed clinical and neurocognitive assessments. Relationships between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and distinct types of impulsivity and compulsivity were evaluated using linear regression modeling.

Obsessive-Compulsive symptoms were significantly predicted by female gender, lower quality of life, psychiatric disorders in general (but not impulse control disorders), and worse extra-dimensional set-shifting. Obsessive-Compulsive symptoms were not significantly predicted by alcohol/nicotine consumption, stop-signal reaction times, or decision-making abilities.

These data indicate that obsessive-compulsive symptoms are more related to certain forms of compulsivity than to impulsivity. These findings have important implications for diagnostic conceptualizations and neurobiological models.