Personality correlates of functional and dysfunctional impulsiveness

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate Dickman's ( Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58 , 95–102, 1990) claims that impulsiveness can be differentiated into two types, namely, functional impulsiveness and dysfunctional impulsiveness and that each have unique personality correlates. Respondents were 267 Australian adolescents (141 females, 126 males; median age = 17 yr). Support was found for the view that dysfunctional impulsiveness can be viewed as a negative trait, while sex differences with respect to the correlates of functional impulsiveness were noted. These findings are commented upon and some suggestions for further research are made.