Divergent disinhibition profiles linked to externalizing psychopathology

Disinhibited individuals show heterogeneity in their neuropsychosocial characteristics. To better understand this variability, we used a person-centered approach to identify transdiagnostic profiles of disinhibition based on a range of personality and neurocognitive indicators. A community sample of adults (N = 363; ages 18-55; 50.1% female; data collected 2019-2024), enriched for externalizing disorders, completed a multilevel assessment encompassing clinical symptoms, personality traits, neuropsychological task performance, and trauma history. Latent profile analysis of disinhibition-related indicators identified three distinct profiles that differed in both the severity and configuration of disinhibitory features. Two profiles exhibited elevated disinhibition: The Neurocognitive Disinhibition profile (n = 72) was characterized by low cognitive and executive functioning performance but average impulsive personality traits, whereas the Personality Disinhibition profile (n = 103) was marked by high levels of trait impulsivity and intact cognitive-executive functioning. A third profile, Low Disinhibition (n = 188), was characterized by relatively low impulsivity and strong executive functioning. The Neurocognitive and Personality Disinhibition profiles showed higher levels of externalizing psychopathology and self- and other-directed violence compared with the Low Disinhibition profile. In addition, the Neurocognitive Disinhibition profile demonstrated greater specificity for externalizing psychopathology and a more extensive history of trauma exposure, whereas the Personality Disinhibition profile was characterized by elevations across both externalizing and internalizing psychopathology. Together, these findings indicate that symptom-agnostic, person-centered classification approaches can delineate meaningful subtypes of disinhibition that differ across personality, neurocognitive, and environmental risk domains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).