Impulsive-aggressive traits and suicidal behavior in adolescents and young adults with alcoholism

Abstract

Suicidal behavior and alcohol use disorders among adolescents and young adults are serious public health problems. In the study of suicidal behavior among young people with alcoholism, it has been shown that aggression and impulsivity are higher among those who attempted suicide. Impulsivity has been related to suicidal and self-destructive behaviors within different psychiatric conditions, i.e. alcohol and substance use disorders, mood disorders, conduct disorder, impulse control disorders, antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder. The term impulsivity has been used to define different constructs such as (1) personality trait or cognitive style in which disinhibition is the core characteristic, (2) a tendency to act immediately in response to external or internal stimuli, and (3) a group of psychiatric disorders with behavioral dyscontrol. Among adolescents suicidal behavior is transmitted in families independently of psychiatric conditions, but not independently of impulsivity/aggression. Two causal links between impulsiveness and alcoholism have been proposed: (1) adolescents who develop alcoholism possess higher premorbid levels of impulsiveness than those who do not develop alcoholism, and (2) levels of impulsiveness differentiate both populations only after the development of alcoholism, with higher levels of impulsiveness among those adolescents who developed alcoholism. Cognitive behavioral techniques have shown promising results in the treatment of adolescents with alcohol and substance use disorder and suicidality. The relative frequency of suicidal behavior among adolescents and young adults suffering from alcoholism and its subsequent devastating effects on individuals, families and society merits further research and development of prevention strategies.