Linking Big Five Personality Domains and Facets to Alcohol (Mis)Use: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

AIMS: The goal of this investigation was to synthesize (un)published studies linking Big Five personality domains and facets to a range of alcohol use outcomes. Meta-analyses were conducted to quantify the unique associations between alcohol use outcomes and each Big Five personality domains over and above other domains. Within each domain, meta-analyses also were conducted to examine the unique contribution of each personality facet in predicting alcohol use outcomes. METHODS: Systematic literature reviews were performed in PsycINFO and PubMed using keywords related to alcohol use and personality. Peer-reviewed and unpublished studies were screened and coded for the meta-analyses. A total of 80 independent samples were subjected to correlated effects meta-regressions. RESULTS: Over and above other Big Five personality domains, both conscientiousness and agreeableness were negatively correlated with alcohol consumption, risky/hazardous drinking and negative drinking-related consequences. Facet-level analyses indicated that deliberation and dutifulness were uniquely associated with alcohol (mis)use over and above other conscientiousness facets, and compliance and straightforwardness were uniquely associated with alcohol (mis)use over and above other agreeableness facets. Extraversion-namely excitement seeking-was correlated with alcohol consumption, whereas neuroticism-namely impulsiveness and angry hostility-was correlated with negative drinking-related consequences. CONCLUSIONS: Personality characteristics are robust correlates of alcohol (mis)use. Examining relevant narrowband traits can inform mechanisms by which personality affects drinking behaviors and related problems, and ways to enhance clinical interventions for alcohol use disorder. Gaps in this literature and future research directions are discussed.

The distinction between symptoms and traits in the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP).

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is an empirically and quantitatively derived dimensional classification system designed to describe the features of psychopathology and, ultimately, to replace categorical nosologies. Among the constructs that HiTOP organizes are "symptom components" and "maladaptive traits," but past HiTOP publications have not fully explicated the distinction between symptoms and traits. We propose working definitions of symptoms and traits and explore challenges, exceptions, and remaining questions. Specifically, we propose that the only systematic difference between symptoms and traits in HiTOP is one of time frame. Maladaptive traits are dispositional constructs that describe persistent tendencies to manifest features of psychopathology, whereas symptoms are features of psychopathology as they are manifest during any specific time period (from moments to days to months). This has the consequence that almost every HiTOP dimension, at any level of the hierarchy, can be assessed as either a trait or a symptom dimension, by adjusting the framing of the assessment. We discuss the implications of these definitions for causal models of the relations between symptoms and traits and for distinctions between psychopathology, normal personality variation, and dysfunction.

Yes, but We need reliability to advance infant work, but there's more to consider too: Important nuances of reliability and the need to include validity.

The field of development needs more reliable infant work - improving our measures and methods is at the heart of accurately understanding why children do what they do! However, as scientists, we cannot stop with reliability but must also include measures of validity in our studies. In this commentary, we clarify and expand upon discussions of reliability and measurement error. We also argue for the importance of assessing the validity of our measures and tasks. Indeed, careful considerations of both reliability and validity are necessary for improving infant research.

A primary care learning collaborative to improve office systems and clinical management of pediatric asthma.

OBJECTIVE: Pediatric asthma is a common, relapsing-remitting, chronic inflammatory airway disease that when uncontrolled often leads to substantial patient and health care system burden. Improving management of asthma in primary care can help patients stay well controlled. METHODS: The Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP) developed a quality improvement (QI) learning collaborative with a primary objective to improve clinical asthma management measures through improvement in primary care office systems to support asthma care. Seven months of medical record review data were evaluated for improvements on eight clinical asthma management measures. Pre and post office systems inventory (OSI) self-assessments detailing adherence to improvement strategies were analyzed for improvement. Logistic regressions were used to test for associations between OSI strategy post scores and the corresponding clinical asthma management measures by month seven. RESULTS: This study found significant improvement from baseline to month seven on seven of the eight clinical asthma management measures and between pre and post OSI for seven of the nine strategies assessed (N = 19 practices). Additionally, one point higher average OSI scores on the assessment and monitoring of asthma severity, asthma control, asthma action plans, and asthma education strategies were associated with significantly greater odds of improvement in their respective clinical asthma management measures. CONCLUSIONS: A QI learning collaborative approach in primary care can improve office systems and corresponding clinical management measures for pediatric patients with asthma. This suggests that linking specific office systems strategies to clinical measures may be a helpful tactic within the learning collaborative model.

Les progrès dans la réalisation de la classification quantitative de la psychopathologie.

Shortcomings of approaches to classifying psychopathology based on expert consensus have given rise to contemporary efforts to classify psychopathology quantitatively. In this paper, we review progress in achieving a quantitative and empirical classification of psychopathology. A substantial empirical literature indicates that psychopathology is generally more dimensional than categorical. When the discreteness versus continuity of psychopathology is treated as a research question, as opposed to being decided as a matter of tradition, the evidence clearly supports the hypothesis of continuity. In addition, a related body of literature shows how psychopathology dimensions can be arranged in a hierarchy, ranging from very broad "spectrum level" dimensions, to specific and narrow clusters of symptoms. In this way, a quantitative approach solves the "problem of comorbidity" by explicitly modeling patterns of co-occurrence among signs and symptoms within a detailed and variegated hierarchy of dimensional concepts with direct clinical utility. Indeed, extensive evidence pertaining to the dimensional and hierarchical structure of psychopathology has led to the formation of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Consortium. This is a group of 70 investigators working together to study empirical classification of psychopathology. In this paper, we describe the aims and current foci of the HiTOP Consortium. These aims pertain to continued research on the empirical organization of psychopathology; the connection between personality and psychopathology; the utility of empirically based psychopathology constructs in both research and the clinic; and the development of novel and comprehensive models and corresponding assessment instruments for psychopathology constructs derived from an empirical approach.

Using Virtual Reality to Create an Observational Assessment of Adolescent Resistance to Antisocial Peer Pressure.

Resistance to antisocial peer pressure consistently relates to adolescent adjustment. However, it is typically measured via a mono-method, self-report approach. The current study introduces a virtual reality (VR) protocol to create an observational measure of adolescents' responses to peer pressure to engage in antisocial activities. Data on the reliability and validity of the assessment procedure are presented. Participants (N = 264, 46% male, Mage = 18.17 years, 81% White) provided self-reports of susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure, antisocial behavior, dating violence perpetration, and depressive symptoms. Participants also engaged in 9 VR simulations, 4 of which involved antisocial peer pressure. Participant behavior in the VR simulations was coded for resistance to antisocial peer pressure. Approximately half the sample repeated the VR simulations at a 2-month follow-up. Resistance to antisocial peer pressure in 4 VR simulations evidenced item/simulation-level convergent validity with one another and discriminant validity against scores in 5 VR bystander behavior simulations. When scores from the 4 antisocial peer pressure VR simulations were summed into a total scale score, they demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, 2-month test-retest correlations, convergent validity with self-reports of susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure, and criterion validity with self-reports of antisocial behavior and dating violence perpetration. Associations with antisocial behavior and dating violence perpetration held after accounting for self-reports of susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure and participant gender. Results provide evidence that VR simulations may offer a psychometrically sound addition to self-report measures as a method for assessing responses to antisocial peer pressure.

Criterion A of the AMPD in HiTOP.

The categorical model of personality disorder classification in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed. [DSM-5]; American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ) is highly and fundamentally problematic. Proposed for DSM-5 and provided within Section III (for Emerging Measures and Models) was the Alternative Model of Personality Disorder (AMPD) classification, consisting of Criterion A (self-interpersonal deficits) and Criterion B (maladaptive personality traits). A proposed alternative to the DSM-5 more generally is an empirically based dimensional organization of psychopathology identified as the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP; Kotov et al., 2017 ). HiTOP currently includes, at the highest level, a general factor of psychopathology. Further down are the five domains of detachment, antagonistic externalizing, disinhibited externalizing, thought disorder, and internalizing (along with a provisional sixth somatoform dimension) that align with Criterion B. The purpose of this article is to discuss the potential inclusion and placement of the self-interpersonal deficits of the DSM-5 Section III Criterion A within HiTOP.

Interaction effects in comorbid psychopathology.

PURPOSE: Comorbidity in psychopathology is the norm. Despite some initial evidence, few studies have examined if the presence of comorbid conditions changes the expression of the pathology, either through increased severity of the syndrome(s) or by expanding to symptoms beyond the syndrome(s) (i.e., symptom overextension). The following report provides an illustration of interactive effects and overextension in comorbid pathology. METHOD: A large pool of patients from a university hospital were assessed using SCID-I/P interviews. Of these, 230 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder, social phobia, or both were included in the study. RESULTS: Symptoms not belonging to either index condition (major depressive disorder or social phobia) reliably overextended in comorbid cases (odds ratios between 2.82 and 15.75). CONCLUSIONS: Current research methodologies (e.g., structured interviews) do not allow for the examination of overextended symptoms. The authors make a call for future psychopathological research to search systematically for interactive effects by adopting more inclusive or flexible assessments.

Exploring the hierarchical structure of the MMPI-2-RF Personality Psychopathology Five in psychiatric patient and university student samples.

In this study our goal was to examine the hierarchical structure of personality pathology as conceptualized by Harkness and McNulty's (1994) Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) model, as recently operationalized by the MMPI-2-RF (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2011) PSY-5r scales. We used Goldberg's (2006) "bass-ackwards" method to obtain factor structure using PSY-5r item data, successively extracting from 1 to 5 factors in a sample of psychiatric patients (n = 1,000) and a sample of university undergraduate students (n = 1,331). Participants from these samples had completed either the MMPI-2 or the MMPI-2-RF. The results were mostly consistent across the 2 samples, with some differences at the 3-factor level. In the patient sample a factor structure representing 3 broad psychopathology domains (internalizing, externalizing, and psychoticism) emerged; in the student sample the 3-factor level represented what is more commonly observed in "normal-range" personality models (negative emotionality, introversion, and disconstraint). At the 5-factor level the basic structure was similar across the 2 samples and represented well the PSY-5r domains.

DEVELOPMENT OF PARENTING SELF-EFFICACY IN MOTHERS OF INFANTS WITH HIGH NEGATIVE EMOTIONALITY.

Maternal parenting self-efficacy (PSE) is a potential target for infant mental health interventions because it is associated with a number of positive outcomes for children and mothers. Understanding the development of maternal PSE under conditions of increased parenting stress, such as parenting an infant who is easily distressed and difficult to soothe, will contribute to providing more effective interventions. This study examines the development of maternal PSE in mothers of infants with high negative emotionality (NE). The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS; T. Brazelton, 1973) was administered twice to 111 infants to select a sample of irritable (n = 24) and nonirritable (n = 29) infants for a prospective study comparing the development of PSE in mothers of infants differing in neonatal NE. Consistent with our hypotheses and previous research, at 8 weeks' postpartum, mothers of irritable infants have significantly lower domain-specific PSE than do mothers of nonirritable infants. Contrary to our predictions, mothers of irritable infants exhibit a significant increase in domain-specific and domain-general PSE from 8 to 16 weeks' postpartum. The implications of these results for infant mental health screening, infant mental health interventions, and research on self-efficacy theory are discussed.

An Examination of the RDoC Negative Valence Systems Domain Constructs and the Self-Reports Unit of Analysis.

In response to shortcomings with the current diagnostic classification system for mental health disorders, such as poor validity and reliability of categorical diagnoses, the National Institute of Mental Health proposed the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative to move towards a dimensional approach using translational research. The current study examined associations between measures of behaviors, cognitions, and mental health symptoms and how they overlap in the Negative Valence Systems (NVS) domain. Specifically, we examined how the Self-Reports unit of analysis reflects the RDoC NVS constructs of acute threat, potential threat, sustained threat, frustrative nonreward, and loss. The overall goal was to identify additional self-report measures that reflect these constructs. Participants, two student samples and two community samples (total N = 1,509), completed online self-reported measures. Questionnaire total and subscale scores were submitted to a principal-axis factor analysis with Promax rotation separately for each sample. For both student samples and one community sample six-factor solutions emerged reflecting major aspects of the RDoC NVS and positive valence systems, particularly acute threat (i.e., fear/panic), potential threat (i.e., inhibition/worry), sustained threat (i.e., chronic stress), loss (i.e., low well-being), frustrative nonreward (i.e., reactive aggression), and reduced behavioral activation. The second community sample differed in that fear/panic and frustration/anger was combined in a general distress factor. Recommendations for additional NVS self-report markers are discussed.

Chronic stress experience, sleep, and physical activity: Relations with change in negative affect and acute stress response to a naturalistic stressor.

OBJECTIVES: Prior research indicates that chronic stress increases allostatic load and alters individuals' affective response to stress. Recent studies have linked health-related behaviours including poor sleep and physical inactivity with elevated negative affect responses to stress. This study extends prior work to investigate chronic stress experience, sleep, and physical activity as predictors of negative affect and acute stress experience during acute, sustained naturalistic stress. DESIGN: Students (N = 637) were assessed during an academic semester and end-of-term final exam period. METHODS: Self-report ratings of chronic stress experience, negative affect, acute stress experience, sleep, physical activity, demographics, and health were obtained. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined the extent to which chronic stress experience, sleep duration and sleep quality, habitual physical activity, and their interactions, predicted changes in negative affect and acute stress experience during final exams. Health-related behaviours were also examined as mediators between chronic stress experience and changes in negative affect and acute stress experience. RESULTS: Greater chronic stress experience and shorter exam period sleep duration, but not habitual sleep duration or physical activity, predicted greater increases in negative affect and acute stress experience. Poorer overall sleep quality was a significant predictor in these models and partially mediated the relation between chronic stress experience and negative affect and acute stress experience. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the importance of chronic stress experience and sleep in predicting individuals' affective health during naturalistic stress. Interventions that reduce chronic stress experience and improve sleep may help individuals' buffer against impairments to affective health during these episodes.

Development of the Thought Disorder Measure for the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology.

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology consortium aims to develop a comprehensive self-report measure to assess psychopathology dimensionally. The current research describes the initial conceptualization, development, and item selection for the thought disorder spectrum and related constructs from other spectra. The thought disorder spectrum is defined primarily by the positive and disorganized traits and symptoms of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The Thought Disorder Sub-Workgroup identified and defined 16 relevant constructs and wrote 10 to 15 items per each construct. These items were administered, along with detachment and mania items, to undergraduates and people with serious mental illness. Three hundred and sixty-five items across 25 scales were administered. An exploratory factor analysis of the scale scores suggested a two-factor structure corresponding to positive and negative symptoms for two samples. The mania scales loaded with the positive factor, while the detachment scales loaded with the negative factor. Item-level analyses resulted in 19 preliminary scales, including 215 items that cover the range of thought disorder pathology, and will be carried forward for the next phase of data collection/analysis.

A (re)-evaluation of the symptom structure of borderline personality disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Despite evidence of significant symptom heterogeneity and excessive diagnostic comorbidity, many contend that borderline personality disorder (BPD) is unidimensional, an assumption that rests primarily on results from factor analytic investigations of BPD symptom criteria. We note several limitations in the literature and argue that the symptom structure of BPD can be best clarified by using both factor analytic techniques and examining the BPD symptom dimensions in relation to external criteria (that is, personality traits). Our goals were to: examine if the symptoms of BPD are best conceptualized as unidimensional or multidimensional, and determine the extent to which personality traits account for any symptom dimensions that underlie BPD. METHOD: All published structural models of the BPD symptom criteria were identified and tested for statistical fit using confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 373 patients who had completed the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Axis II Personality Questionnaire BPD scale. Dimensions from the best fitting model were examined in relation to traits from the Five-Factor Model (FFM) and the Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) using correlational and regression analyses. RESULTS: Sanislow's 3-factor model, containing affect dysregulation, behavioural dysregulation, and disturbed relations symptom dimensions, provided the best fit; the unidimensional model produced the worst. The symptom dimensions of the 3-factor model were differentiable from one another and had unique associations with the FFM and PSY-5 personality traits. CONCLUSION: BPD is a multidimensional construct.

Taking parent personality and child temperament into account in child language development.

Individual differences have become increasingly important in the study of child development and language. However, despite the important role parents play in children's language, no work has examined how parent personality impacts language development. The current study examines the impact of parent personality as well as child temperament on language development in 460 16- to 30-month-old children and 328 31- to 42-month-old children. Findings from both groups suggest multiple aspects of children's language abilities are correlated with their parent's personality. Specifically, parent consciousness, openness, and agreeableness positively correlate with child vocabulary size and other language abilities. Results also replicate and expand research on child temperament and language - child effortful control and surgency were positively correlated, and negative affect negatively correlated with most language abilities even after controlling for parent personality. Critically, parent and child traits appear to impact a child's language abilities above and beyond well-known predictors of language, such as age.

Treatment of personality pathology through the lens of the hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology: Developing a research agenda.

Despite the emphasis on evidence-based treatment for psychological disorders, to date, there has been limited research examining treatment for nine of the 10 categorical personality disorders in DSM-5 Section 2. This is perhaps not surprising given the complex heterogeneity and co-morbidity within personality pathology. The hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology (HiTOP) was proposed to address limitations within the traditional categorical model of the diagnostic system. Within this system are five spectra: detachment, antagonistic externalizing, disinhibited externalizing, thought disorder and internalizing. These foundational personality traits potentially have direct and specific treatment implications. The purpose of this paper is to highlight potential psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment recommendations within the personality spectra. Additionally, we outline the advantages of considering the personality science found within dimensional models of psychopathology in clinical assessment and intervention to aid in treatment planning. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Redefining phenotypes to advance psychiatric genetics: Implications from hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology.

Genetic discovery in psychiatry and clinical psychology is hindered by suboptimal phenotypic definitions. We argue that the hierarchical, dimensional, and data-driven classification system proposed by the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortium provides a more effective approach to identifying genes that underlie mental disorders, and to studying psychiatric etiology, than current diagnostic categories. Specifically, genes are expected to operate at different levels of the HiTOP hierarchy, with some highly pleiotropic genes influencing higher order psychopathology (e.g., the general factor), whereas other genes conferring more specific risk for individual spectra (e.g., internalizing), subfactors (e.g., fear disorders), or narrow symptoms (e.g., mood instability). We propose that the HiTOP model aligns well with the current understanding of the higher order genetic structure of psychopathology that has emerged from a large body of family and twin studies. We also discuss the convergence between the HiTOP model and findings from recent molecular studies of psychopathology indicating broad genetic pleiotropy, such as cross-disorder SNP-based shared genetic covariance and polygenic risk scores, and we highlight molecular genetic studies that have successfully redefined phenotypes to enhance precision and statistical power. Finally, we suggest how to integrate a HiTOP approach into future molecular genetic research, including quantitative and hierarchical assessment tools for future data-collection and recommendations concerning phenotypic analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

What is being assessed and why it matters: the impact of transient error on trait research.

Temporal instability can reflect either true psychological change or transient measurement error, and it is important that trait psychologists be able to distinguish one from the other. The authors report results from large retest studies of Big Five, trait affectivity, and personality disorder measures across time frames (2 months and 2 weeks) over which these constructs should show little or no true change. On average, nearly 25% of the variance in the measures was a product of transient error rather than true change; however, the proportion of error varied widely-but consistently-across measures. In addition, a reexamination of long-term longitudinal data demonstrated that ignoring transient error can lead to inaccurate conclusions. Most notably, a substantial portion of the observed instability in the Big Five and trait affectivity is due to transient error; thus, these traits are even more stable than commonly thought. The present data further suggest that previous reports of differential stability between the Big Five and trait affectivity are due, in part, to differential levels of transient error in measures of these constructs.

Clinical Utility of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS).

Depressive and anxiety disorders are severe and disabling conditions that result in substantial cost and global societal burden. Accurate and efficient identification is thus vital to proper diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. The Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS) is a reliable and well-validated measure that provides dimensional assessment of both mood and anxiety disorder symptoms. The current study examined the clinical utility of the IDAS by establishing diagnostic cutoff scores and severity ranges using a large mixed sample (N = 5,750). Results indicated that the IDAS scales are good to excellent predictors of their associated Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV diagnoses. These findings were replicated using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth edition(DSM-5) criteria assessed via the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. We provide three cutoff scores for each scale that can be used differentially depending on the goal of their use: screening, efficiency, or diagnosis confirmation. The identified severity ranges allow users to characterize individuals as mild, moderate, or severe, providing clinical information beyond diagnostic status. Finally, the 10-item IDAS Dysphoria scale and 20-item General Depression scale demonstrate strong ability to predict internalizing diagnoses and may represent an efficient way to screen for the presence of internalizing psychopathology.