There are some important limitations to the empirical evidence for the urgency traits. First, much of the data has been based on cross-sectional, self-report, and longitudinal analyses. Although this is an important first step in the validation of these traits, more work needs to be done examining these traits utilizing experimental manipulations or ecological momentary reports. Current work is being done to assess these traits in real-life and laboratory settings. However, it is promising that the urgency traits have proven reliable in self-report questionnaires and interviews; that multiple laboratories have replicated cross-sectional, concurrent prediction with the traits, using both normal and clinical samples; and that individual differences in the traits predict subsequent changes in risky behavior involvement. A second limitation is that, because of the relatively recent identification of positive urgency in the research literature, research on this trait has come from a single research laboratory. Attempts to replicate and extend this work by other researchers will constitute important additional steps in validating the construct.
