Relations Between Child Temperament and Adolescent Negative Urgency in a High-Risk Sample.

Negative urgency, rash action during negative mood states, is a strong predictor of risky behavior. However, its developmental antecedents remain largely unstudied. The current study tested whether childhood temperament served as a developmental antecedent to adolescent negative urgency. Participants (N=239) were from a longitudinal study oversampled for a family history of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Negative emotionality (anger and sadness reactivity) and effortful control were measured in childhood (5-8) and negative urgency in adolescence (13-18). Childhood anger reactivity was uniquely related to later negative urgency above and beyond sadness reactivity. Effortful control was not related to later negative urgency; however, a latent variable capturing the shared variance between childhood effortful control and anger reactivity was related to later negative urgency.