Future research should consider how negative urgency might be related to genetic risk for alcoholism, which would better inform theories that posit urgency as a general risk factor for a wide range of risk-taking and externalizing behavioral disorders (e.g., Cyders & Smith, 2008; Verdejo-Garcia et al., 2008). In that regard, subsequent studies could also examine how vmPFC responses to multiple addictive stimuli (e.g., alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, food) are related to negative urgency, which would in turn validate the importance of negative urgency’s role in multiple risk domains. Additionally, considering that the current sample was comprised of social drinkers, the findings might not generalize to heavier drinkers or those with alcohol dependence; thus, the extent to which urgency traits relate to putative ventromedial frontal value signals in those who drink abusively remains to be determined.
