The Psychological Assessment of Impulsivity: A Review

Abstract

A review of the clinical assessment of impulsivity with common psychological tests is presented. Although the term impulsivity is well known in the field of psychology and psychiatry, there are often misconceptions of the definition of the term and related psychometric aspects on both the empirical and clinical levels. Proposed is a definition that is in agreement with the different perspectives of the concept such that impulsivity is viewed as disordered behavior occurring with little or no premeditation or psychological capacity for delay. The assessment of impulsivity with the Bender Gestalt and Draw-A-Person tests, Wechsler scales, Rorschach, Self-Report, and Behavior Rating Scales cited in Psychological Abstracts and Dissertation Abstracts through 1984 is reviewed. It is concluded that the validity of these tests for assessing impulsivity has yet to be shown due to methodological and conceptual problems.