Purpose in life, urgency, and the propensity to engage in risky and self-destructive behaviors

In this preregistered analysis of existing data, we explored whether the association between urgency—a mood-based impulsivity—and risky and self-destructive behavior engagement is moderated by a sense of purpose in life. Results indicated positive associations between positive and negative urgency and recent risk behavior, and negative associations between a sense of purpose and recent risk behavior. For over 90% of the sample, purpose evidenced significant interaction effects with both negative and positive urgency, predicting fewer past-month risk behaviors (both the total number reported and the diversity of behaviors therein). Analyses by subdomain revealed that these interaction effects were most apparent in models predicting recent self-harm and heavy alcohol use. Explanations for this pattern of results and future directions are discussed.