State Perceived Stress Is Concurrently, but Not Prospectively, Associated With State Impulsivity in Youths

Stress is considered a transdiagnostic mechanism underlying psychopathology. Research has suggested that when people experience more stress, they also act more impulsively. Most prior work has focused on between-persons associations or tested broad conceptualizations of impulsivity. We tested associations of momentary reports of perceived stress and appraisal of coping difficulty with three dimensions of impulsivity (urgency, planning, and persistence). High school and college students (N = 146) self-reported momentary perceived stress, coping appraisals, affect, urgency, planning, and persistence three times per day for 10 days. Higher perceived stress was concurrently associated with higher urgency and lower persistence, even after controlling for negative affect. Higher coping appraisals were concurrently associated with higher planning and persistence. No prospective effects were observed. Perceived stress may relate to a time-limited decreased ability to regulate responses to negative affect and persist, whereas coping appraisals may be associated with changes in multiple types of self-regulation.