Impulsivity, Emotional Intelligence, and Alcohol Consumption in Young People: A Mediation Analysis

Abstract

Alcohol consumption in young people is a public health problem. Due to the harmful consequences and the large population using alcoholic substances, it would be important to determine the biological, psychological, and social factors associated with alcohol use and abuse. The main object of this study is to explore which components of impulsivity, according to the main theoretical models, have predictive power regarding alcohol consumption in young people. A secondary objective is to determine if emotional intelligence has a mediating role between the components of impulsivity and alcohol consumption, and thus specifically contribute to the knowledge about the mediation processes between those variables that are involved in the initiation and maintenance of alcohol consumption. For this purpose, 384 participants were recruited (83.1% females, n = 319), with mean age of 20.46 years (SD = 1.90; range 18-25). All participants were alcohol consumers at the beginning of the study. Data collection was conducted via online survey; impulsivity was evaluated by several questionnaires (Sensation Seeking Scale Form V, Barratt Impulsivity Scales 11, and Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward), and emotional intelligence was evaluated by the Trait Meta-Mood Scale. The results reveal that the dimension of disinhibition (a dimension of the sensation search scale) significantly has the highest predictive value on alcohol consumption. Moreover, our data show that the total effect and direct effect of disinhibition on frequency of alcohol consumption were both significant. The mediating role of emotional intelligence in this process was also significant. These findings show which variables should be considered to prevent alcohol consumption in young people.

Keywords: alcohol; emotional intelligence; impulsivity; sensation seeking.

Figure 1

Representation of the indirect effects for serial mediation. Notes: direct effect (c’); total indirect effect (a) represents the association between the predictors DIS and three mediators (a₁, a₂, and a₃); total indirect effect (b) refers to the role of the three mediators in the use of alcohol (b₁, b₂, and b₃); total indirect effect (d) refers to the relationship of the three mediators with each other (d₂₁, d₃₂, and d₃₁).

Figure 2

Illustration of mediation model between disinhibition and frequency of alcohol consumption.