The Explanatory Role of Basic Psychological Need Experiences in the Relation between Dependency, Self-Criticism and Psychopathology in Adolescence Abstract According to Blatt’s theory on personality development, adolescents with high levels of self-criticism and dependency are more vulnerable to diverse types of psychopathology. However, relatively little is known about intervening processes involved in this personality-based vulnerability. The goal of this study is to examine, on the basis of Self-Determination Theory, the explanatory role of the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in associations between self-criticism and dependency on the one hand and adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems on the other hand. In this cross-sectional and multi-informant study, 284 adolescents (58,5% female; mean age = 14.15; SD = .93) and their parents reported about the adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing problems. Adolescents also completed measures assessing self-criticism, dependency, and psychological needs experiences. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Self-criticism and dependency were significantly related to higher levels of both internalizing and externalizing problems, with psychological need frustration fully mediating these associations. This study suggests that psychological need frustration is an important explanatory mechanism in personality-related vulnerability for adolescent psychopathology. More generally, it provides further evidence for the integration between two major theoretical approaches in the domain of adolescent development and psychopathology.

Moderated Mediation of the Link between Parent-Adolescent Conflict and Adolescent Risk-Taking: the Role of Physiological Regulation and Hostile Behavior in an Experimentally Controlled Investigation Abstract Compared to childhood and adulthood, adolescence is a time of greater risk-taking behavior, potentially resulting in serious consequences. Theories of adolescent brain development highlight the imbalance between neural circuitry for reward vs. regulation. Although this imbalance may make adolescents more vulnerable to impaired decision-making in the context of heightened arousal, not all adolescents exhibit problematic risk behavior, suggesting other factors are involved. Relatedly, parent-adolescent conflict increases in mid-adolescence, and is linked to negative outcomes like substance use related risk-taking. However, the mechanism by which parent-adolescent conflict and risk-taking are linked is still unknown. Therefore, we investigated this association using a multi-method experimental design. Parent-adolescent dyads were randomly assigned to complete a discussion task together on the topic of either the adolescent’s dream vacation or an adolescent-identified conflict topic. During the task, adolescent peripheral psychophysiology was measured for later calculation of heart rate variability (HRV), an index of self-regulation. Immediately after the discussion task, adolescents completed a performance-based measure of risk-taking propensity that indexes real-world risk behaviors. We hypothesized that parent-adolescent conflict would predict greater adolescent risk-taking propensity, and that increased behavioral arousal in the context of conflict, coupled with impaired self-regulation, would explain this link. Results indicated no direct effect of parent-adolescent conflict on adolescent risk-taking propensity. However, there was a significant conditional indirect effect: lower HRV, indexing worse regulatory ability, mediated the relation between conflict and risk-taking propensity but only for adolescents exhibiting behavioral arousal during the discussion task. We discuss implications for understanding adolescent risk-taking behavior.

Cognitive Styles in Preschool-Age Children: Associations with Depression Risk and Evidence of Stability Abstract Evidence suggests cognitive styles are associated with depression; however, little research has examined cognitive styles in early childhood. Using developmentally appropriate, stress-inducing laboratory paradigms to assess young children’s cognitive vulnerability, the current study assessed negative and positive cognitive styles, their concurrent associations with well-established risk factors for depression in early childhood, and their stability from early to middle childhood. Participants included 173 preschool-aged children and their parents. Cognitive styles were assessed by coding children’s negative and positive self-referent and non-self-referent verbalizations and assistance-seeking verbalizations during stress-inducing laboratory tasks during early childhood (Wave 1; ages 3–5) and middle childhood (Wave 2; ages 6–10). Children’s Wave 1 verbalizations were concurrently associated with exposure to maternal depression, child negative and positive temperamental emotionality, and child externalizing psychopathology. Assistance-seeking verbalizations demonstrated homotypic continuity from Wave 1 to Wave 2, and both assistance-seeking verbalizations and negative non-self-referent verbalizations at Wave 1 predicted increases in negative self-referent verbalizations from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Findings suggest that cognitive styles can be observed in young children when using an ecologically valid assessment and are linked to risk factors for depression. Further research is warranted to elucidate the development of cognitive vulnerability in young children, which may inform prevention and early interventions targeting cognitive risk for depression.

Emotion Sensitivity of the Error-Related Negativity in Hoarding Individuals Abstract Emerging research suggests that hoarding individuals display atypical activation in their anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Hemodynamic studies have found a biphasic pattern of ACC activity in hoarding individuals that appears sensitive to possession-related decision-making. Electrophysiological studies suggest that hoarding individuals display a blunted error-related negativity (ERN); an event-related potential originating from the ACC that indexes error-detection. These neural abnormalities may reflect an error sensitivity in hoarding individuals as they acquire and discard, however it may also reflect the hyper-emotionality often reported by individuals who hoard. The present study aimed to examine the emotional sensitivity of the error-related negativity in hoarding individuals outside a possession-related context. Seventeen hoarding individuals and 16 healthy controls underwent continuous electroencephalography (EEG) as they completed Go/No-Go (GNGT) tasks design to elicit the ERN. Identical GNGT tasks were completed both before and after watching a negative mood induction video, and self-reported distress was measured throughout. Neither group displayed any neural effect of the negative mood induction, however the hoarding group displayed a pattern of blunted ERN consistent with previous research. This study provides additional evidence that hoarding individuals display blunted indices of error-detection outside possession-related decision-making. Future research could explore if this reflects a pathophysiology shared with other psychiatric disorders that feature a blunted ERN, and if error-detection is also abnormal as hoarding individuals acquire and discard their possessions.

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Revised Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI-R) in a Child and Adolescent Sample Abstract The multifactorial nature of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in children has been assessed almost solely with the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI; Silverman et al. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 20(2), 162–168, 1991); however, multiple studies have suggested that the item content of the CASI is too limited to adequately assess multiple AS factors in youth. Here we examined the psychometric properties of the Revised Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI-R; Muris Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 299–311, 2002), developed to assess a higher-order global AS factor and four lower-order factors. In a non-clinical sample of youth aged 8–14 we (a) examined the psychometric properties of the CASI-R, comparing findings for children aged 11 and younger with those aged 12 and older, (b) evaluated and compared the internal consistency of the four-factor CASI-R and the three- and four-factor CASI, and (c) examined and compared the convergent validity of the CASI and CASI-R subscales with child-reported anxiety symptoms. Reliability estimates for the CASI-R total, Cardiovascular, and Respiratory scales were high for all youth; the Cognitive Dyscontrol and Publicly Observable Reactions scales yielded low estimates of internal consistency for the younger group. Compared to the parallel CASI scales, these CASI-R scales demonstrated stronger internal consistency in both the older and younger groups. Comparatively larger correlations between the CASI-R physical and cognitive scales with symptoms of panic and between the CASI-R social scale and symptoms of social anxiety were observed. These findings suggest continued use and examination of the CASI-R in child and adolescent non-clinical and clinical samples to comprehensively assess the AS construct in youth.

Differences and Similarities in how Psychopathic Traits Predict Attachment Insecurity in Females and Males Abstract We examined whether there are differential associations between latent psychopathy (Interpersonal, Affective, Lifestyle, Antisocial) and adult attachment anxiety and avoidance factors, and if sex moderated the associations in a large sample of young adults (n = 590). Participants completed the Self-Report Psychopathy-Short Form (SRP-SF) and the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) attachment scale. Based on norms from the SRP Manual (Paulhus et al. 2017), 19.1% reported an elevated SRP total score (T-score = 60). Multiple group structural equation modeling (MGSEM) was conducted with item factor loadings and thresholds constrained to be equal across male and female subsamples. The MGSEM results indicated excellent model fit (CFI = .95; RMSEA = .04), thus providing evidence of strong invariance and assurance of equvalence of measurement across sex. The pattern of SEM results across males and females revealed both similar and differential relations between specific psychopathy and attachment factors. For both sexes, the Affective psychopathy factor had a significant effect on Avoidant attachment (Males, β = .48; Females, β = .48). In contrast, for males, the Avoidant attachment factor was linked with the Lifestyle factor (β = .47), while for females, the Antisocial factor had a negative effect on Avoidant attachment (β = −.23). The findings highlight both similarities and differences across sex regarding the associations between psychopathic trait domains and disturbances in adult attachment consistent with previous studies. Discussion of this pattern of results and their implications for further understanding of psychopathic traits in males versus females are provided.

Distinguishing SCT Symptoms from ADHD in Children: Internal and External Validity in Turkish Culture Abstract In this study, our aim was to evaluate the internal and external validity of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) and to determine if it is an independent factor from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Turkish children, like in other cultures. Two hundred sixty-one children (6–12 years of age) who applied to Ankara University Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinics and diagnosed with ADHD recruited the study. All children were evaluated with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children Present and Lifetime Version which is a semi-structured diagnostic interview (K-SADS-PL) for ADHD diagnosis. Child Behavior Checklist for ages 6–18, The Barkley’s Child SCT Ratings Scale, SNAP-IV Parent and Teacher Scale, and Sociodemographic Information Form were enrolled by the parents and teachers of the children. Our results demonstrated that SCT symptoms formed two distinct but interrelated factors (Sluggish and Daydreaming) separate from those for ADHD. Due to regression analyses, higher levels of SCT predicted higher levels of ADHD-IN (Inattentive) and internalizing symptoms including anxiety-depression, social problems, and social withdrawal. These findings distinguished SCT cases from ADHD-IN in Turkish children. Results also indicated that ADHD- IN symptoms are risk factors for lower academic achievement while SCT symptoms haven’t such an effect. Our study is the first which demonstrates SCT’s construct validity relative to ADHD-IN by parental and teacher ratings in Turkey. Similar findings with Turkish children to the findings with children from other cultures would increase our confidence in the transcultural generalizability of SCT’s internal-external validity.

Interrelations among Biologically Relevant Personality Traits, Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Clinical Symptoms Abstract Biologically relevant personality traits of weak inhibitory control (disinhibition) and threat sensitivity confer vulnerability to various clinical problems. Difficulties with emotion regulation have also been studied extensively in relation to risk for and maintenance of psychopathology. However, it remains unclear how emotion regulation strategies interface with dispositional vulnerabilities in affecting clinical symptomatology. The current study provided an initial examination of the roles of disinhibition, threat sensitivity, and use of key emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) in the occurrence of distress-related symptoms (i.e., depressivity, anxiousness, and borderline personality features). Analyses revealed that trait disinhibition and lowered use of cognitive reappraisal were related to each form of distress symptomatology, with the predictive relationship for disinhibition accounting entirely for that of reappraisal. This finding suggests that deficient top-down control capacity (i.e., disinhibition) is integral to failures in the use of an adaptive but cognitively demanding regulation strategy (i.e., reappraisal). By contrast, threat sensitivity was related both to anxiousness and use of expressive suppression, with the latter two variables unrelated to one another. Anxious individuals may avoid emotionally evocative situations, negating the downstream need to engage in the maladaptive strategy of expressive suppression. Despite certain study limitations (a cross-sectional, self-report design; modest sample size), the current study yielded evidence in line with study hypotheses, indicating a pivotal role for dispositional traits in associations between cognitive-behavioral processes and clinical problems.

Motives for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Individuals with Lifetime Depressive Disorders and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Abstract Although researchers have identified a number of factors that may motivate individuals to engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), few studies have examined whether motives for NSSI differ as a function of psychiatric diagnosis. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to examine motives for lifetime NSSI among individuals with a history of psychiatric disorders associated with elevated rates of NSSI: depressive disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Young adults (N = 139) with a history of NSSI completed several diagnostic interviews and questionnaires, including a measure of lifetime NSSI motives. Results demonstrated that participants with (vs. without) a lifetime depressive disorder reported significantly lower levels of interpersonal influence motives for NSSI, and participants with (vs. without) lifetime PTSD reported significantly higher levels of emotional relief and feeling generation motives. Further, results revealed a significant interaction between lifetime depressive disorders and PTSD for interpersonal communication motives; specifically, whereas participants with lifetime diagnoses of both a depressive disorder and PTSD did not differ significantly in reported interpersonal communication motives from participants with neither diagnosis, those with lifetime PTSD but without a lifetime depressive disorder reported significantly higher levels of interpersonal communication motives than those without either diagnosis. Results suggest that a history of depression and PTSD (alone and in combination) may be associated with different motives for NSSI.

Schizotypy from the Perspective of the DSM-5 Alternative Model of Personality Traits: a Study on a Sample of 1056 Italian Adult University Students Abstract To assess the relationships between schizotypy measures and DSM-5 Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) traits, 1056 (69.4% female; mean age = 23.30 years) University students, were administered the Italian translation of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), Schizotypal Personality Scale (STA), Schizotypy Scale (SS), and Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) suggested that the SPQ, STA, and SS Schizofrenism scale total scores may represent primary measures of schizotypy/Schizotypal personality disorder (PD), whereas the SS anhedonia (AH) total score represent an index of the general anhedonia level. MAMBAC, MAXCOV, and LMode taxometric analyses showed that both schizotypy and anhedonia constructs had a dimensional distribution (all comparison curve fit index values<.40). Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported a two-factor model of SPQ, STA, SS SZ and SS AH scale total scores. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that DSM-5 AMPD traits that were hypothesized to define the Schizotypal PD profile (i.e., Cognitive and Perceptual Dysregulation, Unusual Beliefs and Experiences, Eccentricity, Restricted Affectivity, Withdrawal, and Suspiciousness), as well as the additional specifiers (i.e., Anxiousness, and Depressivity) explained 66.0% of the systematic variance in the schizotypy factor scale scores. Our findings suggested that schizotypy could be represented as a continuously-distributed latent variable which may be effectively described in terms of a coherent system of dysfunctional personality traits.