Impulsivity assessment in smokers: a systematic review

Abstract

Due to its complexity, the study of the concept of impulsivity has been of interest for Economy, Sociology, Psychology and Medicine. Different measures are used to conduct research in impulsivity, these techniques are either selfreports or behavioral paradigms. Studies dealing with impulsivity and tobacco consumption are relatively new and they could be useful to understand the relationship between this tendency and smoking. It is possible that impulsivity is a factor that prevent cessation of tobacco consumption and that this tendency contributes for relapses. The present systematic review has as its central goal to discuss in detail different forms used in the literature to assess impulsivity among smokers. Based on the search on data bases such as PUBMED, SCOPUS, SCIENCEDIRECT, SPRINGER and ERIC, 3025 articles were found related with impulsivity, from which 700 directly evaluated it. Only 106 articles dealt with impulsivity related to smoking behavior and among them only 20 provided measures focused directly on impulsivity among smokers. The review concludes that the joint use of behavioral performance task plus self-reports for assessment of impulsivity, allows a better grasp in the comprehension and explanation of the target phenomena.