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. 2019 Sep;53(9):896-907.
doi: 10.1177/0004867419844325. Epub 2019 Apr 19.

Fractionation of impulsive and compulsive trans-diagnostic phenotypes and their longitudinal associations

Samuel R Chamberlain  1 , Jeggan Tiego  2 , Leonardo F Fontenelle  2 , Roxanne Hook  1 , Linden Parkes  2 , Rebecca Segrave  2 , Tobias U Hauser  3 , Ray J Dolan  3 , Ian M Goodyer  1 , Ed Bullmore  1 , Jon E Grant  4 , Murat Yücel  2
Affiliations

Fractionation of impulsive and compulsive trans-diagnostic phenotypes and their longitudinal associations

Samuel R Chamberlain et al. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2019 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: Young adulthood is a crucial neurodevelopmental period during which impulsive and compulsive problem behaviours commonly emerge. While traditionally considered diametrically opposed, impulsive and compulsive symptoms tend to co-occur. The objectives of this study were as follows: (a) to identify the optimal trans-diagnostic structural framework for measuring impulsive and compulsive problem behaviours, and (b) to use this optimal framework to identify common/distinct antecedents of these latent phenotypes.

Method: In total, 654 young adults were recruited as part of the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network, a population-based cohort in the United Kingdom. The optimal trans-diagnostic structural model capturing 33 types of impulsive and compulsive problem behaviours was identified. Baseline predictors of subsequent impulsive and compulsive trans-diagnostic phenotypes were characterised, along with cross-sectional associations, using partial least squares.

Results: Current problem behaviours were optimally explained by a bi-factor model, which yielded dissociable measures of impulsivity and compulsivity, as well as a general disinhibition factor. Impulsive problem behaviours were significantly explained by prior antisocial and impulsive personality traits, male gender, general distress, perceived dysfunctional parenting and teasing/arguments within friendships. Compulsive problem behaviours were significantly explained by prior compulsive traits and female gender.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that trans-diagnostic phenotypes of 33 impulsive and compulsive problem behaviours are identifiable in young adults, utilising a bi-factor model based on responses to a single questionnaire. Furthermore, these phenotypes have different antecedents. The findings yield a new framework for fractionating impulsivity and compulsivity, and suggest different early intervention targets to avert emergence of problem behaviours. This framework may be useful for future biological and clinical dissection of impulsivity and compulsivity.

Keywords: Impulsive; compulsive; phenotyping.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: Dr Chamberlain consults for Cambridge Cognition and Shire. Dr Grant has received research grants from NIDA, National Center for Responsible Gaming, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Forest and Roche Pharmaceuticals. Dr Grant receives yearly compensation from Springer Publishing for acting as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gambling Studies and has received royalties from Oxford University Press, American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., Norton Press, Johns Hopkins University Press and McGraw-Hill. Jeggan Tiego was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grants 1050504 and 1146292. Dr Fontenelle is supported by the ‘Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro’ (FAPERJ) under E-26/010.001411/2015, and ‘Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico’ (CNPq) under grant 308237/2014-5. Dr Goodyer consults for Lundbeck, is supported by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award and is Chairperson of and scientific advisor to the Peter Cundill Centre for Youth Depression Research, Centre for Addictions and Mental Health, University of Toronto. Dr Yücel was supported by an NHMRCof Australia Fellowship (#APP1117188) and the David Winston Turner Endowment Fund. Dr Rebecca Segrave was supported by the David Winston Turner Endowment Fund. The other authors report no conflicts of interest or disclosures. Dr Hauser is supported by a Wellcome Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (211155/Z/18/Z), a grant from the Jacobs Foundation (2017-1261-04), the Medical Research Foundation, and a 2018 NARSAD Young Investigator grant (27023) from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Dr Dolan is supported by a Wellcome Investigator Award and by the Max Planck Society. Dr Bullmore is employed half-time by GSK and holds stock in GSK.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Standardised model coefficients for variables statistically explaining later problem behaviours (orange: impulsive problems; blue: compulsive problems). *p < 0.05, significant by rigorous statistical correction (bootstrap) for impulsive and compulsive problem behaviours. (For reference, model coefficients for the General Factor are shown in light grey outline; these were all significant by bootstrap except for gender [asterisks not shown].)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Standardised model coefficients for variables statistically explaining current problem behaviours (orange: impulsive problems; blue: compulsive problems). *p < 0.05, significant by rigorous statistical correction (bootstrap) for impulsive and compulsive problem behaviours. (For reference, model coefficients for the General Factor are shown in light grey outline; these were all significant by bootstrap except for gender [asterisks not shown].)
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Variables significantly (p < 0.05, bootstrap in PLS models) mapping onto trans-diagnostic phenotypes of impulsive and compulsive problem behaviours. OC: obsessive–compulsive.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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