Does consideration of future consequences moderate the relationship between aggression and alcohol use in adolescents? Results from the United Kingdom

Background: An increasing body of literature suggests that those who give greater consideration to the future consequences (CFC) of their present behaviours are at a reduced risk of negative health outcomes. However, it remains unclear to what degree consideration of immediate or long-term consequences are important. The present study examined whether higher CFC (immediate and future) scores moderated the relationship between trait aggression and self-reported alcohol use in a large sample of adolescents in the United Kingdom.
Methods: Participants were 1058 adolescents from Northern Ireland. Participants completed questionnaires assessing Anger, Hostility, Verbal Aggression, Physical Aggression, Consideration of Future Consequences, and alcohol use.
Results: Results revealed that higher CFC immediate and CFC future both significantly moderated the relationship between higher trait aggression and higher self-reported alcohol use, but only for females.
Conclusions: This finding adds to the increasing body of literature examining the relationship between temporal orientation and health-related outcomes. However, more work is needed to help untangle the gender-specific effects.