Impulsivity, self-regulation, and response withholding in university-student drinkers

This study was designed to determine how impulsivity, self-regulation, and response withholding are related to one another and to university students' drinking behavior. Participants (N = 108) completed measures of impulsivity, self-regulation, and alcohol consumption. In addition, a computerized Go/No Go task and a backward memory task were used to measure participants' behavioral impulsivity and their memory capacity. The aim was to determine whether (a) light/moderate and heavy drinkers would respond differently when the task stimuli were alcohol-related compared to when they were alcohol-unrelated and (b) whether the accuracy of participants' responses was related to their cognitive ability. Compared to light/moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers were low in self-regulation and high in impulsivity. Heavy drinkers and those with lower memory capacity were also poorer at withholding responses on No Go trials. These findings point to personality/cognitive characteristics that influence university students' alcohol consumption.