Proximal mechanisms of externalizing behaviors: an intensive longitudinal design investigating the effects of temporally varying processes

Externalizing behaviors refer to a spectrum of psychological difficulties that include “acting out” behaviors such as substance use, aggression, lying, and theft. Understanding these behaviors is important in decreasing the personal, interpersonal, and societal costs associated with these behaviors. Levels of externalizing behaviors have been shown to change over time within individuals, increasing the need to identify factors that influence such behavior to be more or less likely to occur in any given moment. The current study aimed to contribute to the understanding of factors that influence externalizing behavior by repeatedly measuring such factors within individuals over short time intervals. Gender, age, and personality were measured once per participant. Ongoing moment-to-moment personality, situational context, mood, decision-making processes, and externalizing behaviors were measured three times per day for seven days in 170 university students.

A new measure of momentary externalizing behaviors—Momentary-Externalizing Spectrum Inventory—was created as a practically feasible measure to administer multiple times per day. One particular personality trait called disinhibition-versus-constraint predicted how much individuals engaged in externalizing behaviors on average. Measuring personality in ongoing moment-to-moment ways offered additional predictive power for momentary externalizing behavior over and above just measuring personality once. Momentary factors such as situational context, mood, and decision-making processes predicted externalizing behavior in an ongoing manner over time. However, exactly how situational context, mood, and decision-making predicted externalizing behaviors depends on a person’s personality. Implications for the understanding of externalizing behaviors were discussed while hypotheses for future research were generated.