Motor Inhibition, Reflection Impulsivity, and Trait Impulsivity in Pathological Skin Picking

Pathological skin picking (PSP) is often recognized as an impulse control disorder. The current study sought to investigate the relationship between PSP and different forms of impulsivity. University students that met criteria for PSP (n = 55) and university students without history of PSP (n = 55) answered a multidimensional impulsivity questionnaire (the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale) and completed 2 neurocognitive tasks that assess impulsivity (the Stop Signal Task and the Information Sampling Task). The PSP group scored significantly higher than the control group on the negative and positive urgency subscales of the UPPS, but the groups did not differ on other subscales or the neurocognitive tasks. Logistic regression demonstrated that the urgency scales added to the prediction of PSP after negative affect and other forms of impulsivity were adjusted for. The results indicate that PSP sufferers are characterized by emotion-based impulsivity and do not appear to be impulsive in other ways.