Other forms of impulsivity may also correlate with early risk behavior. For example, tendencies to act without thinking have been studied under the rubric of poor behavioral control (Block, Block, & Keyes, 1988; Wong et al., 2006) or as part of novelty seeking in Cloninger’s system (1988). This research indicates that early levels of poor behavioral control foreshadow later drug use, findings consistent with models put forth by Cloninger (1988), Tarter et al. (2003), and Moffitt (1993). Indeed, early manifestations of poor behavioral control might reflect the effects of the same mechanisms that underlie sensation seeking. However, less is known about how closely sensation seeking and poor behavioral control correlate during preadolescence when many risk behaviors first emerge.
