Cross-Study, Cross-Method Associations Between Negative Urgency and Internalizing Symptoms.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Emotional Regulation

Background:

• Negative urgency, the tendency for rash actions during negative emotions, is conceptually similar to negative emotionality.
• Research has linked negative urgency to depressive and anxiety symptoms, but few studies control for negative emotionality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between negative urgency and internalizing symptoms, controlling for negative emotionality.
• To determine if these associations generalize to real-time emotional experiences.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from five independent samples of high school and college students.
• Employed both global self-report (N=1,297) and ecological momentary assessment (N=195) methods.
• Assessed bivariate and partial associations between negative urgency, negative emotionality, and internalizing symptoms.

Main Results:

• Negative urgency showed moderate positive associations with depressive and anxiety symptoms in global self-reports.
• After controlling for negative emotionality, the association between negative urgency and depressive symptoms remained significant and moderate.
• This pattern was consistent in ecological momentary assessment data, suggesting negative urgency independently predicts depressive symptoms.

Conclusions:

• Negative urgency may represent a distinct risk factor for depressive symptoms, beyond general negative emotionality.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering negative urgency in understanding and potentially treating internalizing disorders.
• The study provides robust evidence across different assessment methods and populations.