Research report: Emotional instability and somatic symptoms explain the longitudinal link between childhood adversity and later motor impulsivity in college students

A two-wave study of 403 undergraduate students found that childhood adversity was statistically associated with motor impulsivity and that emotional instability and somatic symptoms each helped explain part of that relationship. Researchers at a college in Western China used structural equation modeling to examine the direct and indirect associations. The research, published in BMC Psychology , reports that the findings apply to the surveyed student population and do not establish that adverse experiences caused impulsive behavior.

The convenience sample comprised undergraduates with a mean age of 19.90 years and a standard deviation of 1.48. Childhood adversity, motor impulsivity and emotional instability were assessed in April 2025, while somatic symptoms were assessed in December 2025. The researchers controlled for gender and household registration in their statistical models.

This two-stage design allowed them to test a model in which emotional instability and somatic symptoms were potential mediators between childhood adversity and motor impulsivity. In the baseline model, childhood adversity had a direct statistical association with motor impulsivity after adjustment for gender and household registration, with a standardized coefficient of β = 0.201 and p < 0.01. The overall model also identified significant indirect associations between adversity and motor impulsivity through emotional instability, with β = 0.071 and p < 0.01, and through somatic symptoms, with β = 0.041 and p < 0.05.

These estimates describe paths in the fitted statistical model; they do not show that every student who experienced adversity became more impulsive or that a particular experience produced a particular change. Emotional instability and somatic symptoms were therefore significant mediators in the longitudinal association reported by the authors. The model indicates that part of the statistical link between early adversity and motor impulsivity was accounted for through each of these factors.

However, the timing of the assessments constrains what can be inferred about the complete pathway. Adversity, emotional instability and motor impulsivity were measured together in April 2025, whereas somatic symptoms were measured eight months later, so the study did not experimentally establish the temporal ordering of every link in the proposed mediation sequence. The overall model also found direct associations of gender and household registration with some measured variables.

Gender was directly associated with motor impulsivity, with β = −0.114 and p < 0.05. Household registration predicted emotional instability, with β = −0.205 and p < 0.01, and somatic symptoms, with β = −0.140 and p < 0.01. Because the supplied results do not document the coding of these variables, the substantive direction of the negative coefficients cannot be interpreted beyond the associations reported in the model.

The single-college convenience sample also limits broader generalization. Overall, the study provides evidence of modeled direct and mediated associations in a group of college students, rather than proof of a causal developmental pathway or a population-wide effect of childhood adversity.

Subject of Research: Longitudinal associations among childhood adversity, emotional instability, somatic symptoms and motor impulsivity in Chinese undergraduates.

Article Title: Emotional instability and somatic symptoms explain the longitudinal link between childhood adversity and later motor impulsivity in college students

Article References: Wang, X., Fu, K., Chen, M., Huang, Y., Zheng, Y., Jiang, X., Guo, Q., & Zhang, Y. (2026). Emotional instability and somatic symptoms explain the longitudinal link between childhood adversity and later motor impulsivity in college students. BMC Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05612-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05612-0

Keywords: childhood adversity, motor impulsivity, emotional instability, somatic symptoms, college students, longitudinal study, mediation analysis, structural equation modeling, Western China, Emotional, instability, somatic