Inhibitory Control and Impulsivity Levels in Women Crack Users

ABSTRACT

Objective: investigate impulsivity levels and inhibitory control in women crack users and explore the relationships between impulsivity and inhibitory control. Method and Design: 52 healthy women (M = 32.83 years; SD = 9.54) and 46 crack cocaine users (M = 31.02 years; SD = 7.73), in abstinence, performed the assessment protocol included a Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a GO/No-Go Task and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale–11 (BIS-11). It was a quantitative research with cross-sectional design and control group. Results: crack group showed higher levels of impulsivity in all domains when compared to the control group (crack group M = 76.39, SD = 11.39, control group M = 58.53, SD = 10.76, p <.01). Participants from the crack group presented a significantly higher total reaction time in the Go-NoGo task (F(1,93) = 9.93, p =.002; effect size =.09, observed power =.87) and significantly more commission (F(1,93) = 7.20, p =.009; effect size =.07, observed power =.75) and omission errors (F(1,93) = 6.04, p =.01; effect size =.06, observed power =.68), in Go/NoGo Task. Groups did also significantly differ on total standard deviations suggesting that variability in total reaction time was significantly greater in the crack group. Results showed that only in the crack group there were significant correlations between Go-NoGo parameters and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Conclusions: Our findings are consistent that impulsivity and inhibitory control are closely linked to crack use in women. Future studies should consider to evaluate crack users in different withdrawal times, controlling the impact of abstinence time in the variables studied.

KEYWORDS:

• Barratt impulsiveness scale
• crack cocaine
• executive function
• Go-NoGo task
• inhibitory control

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grant from MCTI/CNPq /MEC/CAPES Nº 18/2012.

Conflict of interest statement

None to declare.

Authors and Contributors

AH and RA were responsible for the study concept and design. CM programmed the Go/NoGo Task in E-Prime. All authors assisted with data analysis and interpretation of findings. AH, RA and CM provided critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors critically reviewed and approved final version for publication.