Review: Impulsivity in Children: Causes, Definitions, and Theories

Impulsivity is an important determinant of personality differences, diagnostic character in psychological disorders, and basic and influential factor in the occurrence of dangerous behaviors. Childhood is the most important period in which the majority of underlying roots of behavior are shaped and continued to adultness. Achieving a thorough and unanimous definition based on potential causes from various aspects is considered as the first step in finding solution. The purpose of this study is to survey the most crucial controversies about impulsivity, especially in children, including the causes, different definitions, and related theories.

All available full-text articles on impulsivity in children in English or Persian, published on March 2020 in electronic databases, including Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, PubMed, and OT Seeker were studied.

Out of the reviewed 65 articles, 21 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. According to CEBM (the Center for Evidence-Based Medicine), the quality of the studied articles was medium-to-good. Furthermore, the articles were medium according to the PEDro criteria (4 and 5 points).

It seems that defect in planning, defect in attention to future consequences, and the speed of action in response to external and internal stimuli are the important causes of impulsivity.