Extensions of Multiple-Group Item Response Theory Alignment: Application to Psychiatric Phenotypes in an International Genomics Consortium.

Large-scale studies spanning diverse project sites, populations, languages, and measurements are increasingly important to relate psychological to biological variables. National and international consortia already are collecting and executing mega-analyses on aggregated data from individuals, with different measures on each person. In this research, we show that Asparouhov and Muthén's alignment method can be adapted to align data from disparate item sets and response formats. We argue that with these adaptations, the alignment method is well suited for combining data across multiple sites even when they use different measurement instruments. The approach is illustrated using data from the Whole Genome Sequencing in Psychiatric Disorders consortium and a real-data-based simulation is used to verify accurate parameter recovery. Factor alignment appears to increase precision of measurement and validity of scores with respect to external criteria. The resulting parameter estimates may further inform development of more effective and efficient methods to assess the same constructs in prospectively designed studies.

A 3-Year Longitudinal Study of Risk for Bipolar Spectrum Psychopathology.

Current clinical and epidemiological research provides support for a continuum of bipolar psychopathology: a bipolar spectrum that ranges from subthreshold characteristics to clinical disorders. The present research examined risk for bipolar spectrum psychopathology at a 3-year follow-up assessment in a nonclinically ascertained sample of 112 young adults identified by the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS). Participants completed diagnostic interviews assessing bipolar psychopathology, borderline personality traits, substance use disorders, impulsivity, and psychosocial functioning. At the original assessment, 18 of the 112 participants met criteria for a bipolar spectrum disorder. At the follow-up, an additional 13 had developed bipolar spectrum disorders. A total of 58% of participants scoring in the upper quartile of the HPS qualified for bipolar spectrum disorders at the follow-up, including 27% with DSM­IV­TR disorders. The HPS predicted new cases and total number of cases of bipolar spectrum disorders, as well as total number of DSM­IV­TR bipolar disorders. The HPS also predicted hyperthymic temperament or history of hypomania, grandiose traits, impulsivity, substance use disorders, psychosocial impairment, and borderline traits. The majority of these effects were significant after removing participants with DSM­IV­TR bipolar disorders from the analyses, suggesting that the results were not driven by a subset of participants with clinical disorders. Overall, these results offer further support for the bipolar spectrum construct and the predictive validity of the HPS as a measure of bipolar spectrum psychopathology.

A three-year longitudinal study of affective temperaments and risk for psychopathology.

BACKGROUND: Affective temperaments are presumed to underlie bipolar psychopathology. The TEMPS-A has been widely used to assess affective temperaments in clinical and non-clinical samples. Cross-sectional research supports the association of affective temperaments and mood psychopathology; however, longitudinal research examining risk for the development of bipolar disorders is lacking. The present study examined the predictive validity of affective temperaments, using the TEMPS-A, at a three-year follow-up assessment. METHODS: The study interviewed 112 participants (77% of the original sample) at a three-year follow-up of 145 non-clinically ascertained young adults psychometrically at-risk for bipolar disorders, who previously took part in a cross-sectional examination of affective temperaments and mood psychopathology. RESULTS: At the reassessment, 29 participants (26%) met criteria for bipolar spectrum disorders, including 13 participants who transitioned into disorders during the follow-up period (14% of the originally undiagnosed sample). Cyclothymic/irritable and hyperthymic temperaments predicted both total cases and new cases of bipolar spectrum disorders at the follow-up. Cyclothymic/irritable temperament was associated with more severe outcomes, including DSM-IV-TR bipolar disorders, bipolar spectrum psychopathology, major depressive episodes, and substance use disorders. Hyperthymic temperament was associated with bipolar spectrum psychopathology and hypomania, whereas dysthymic temperament was generally unassociated with psychopathology and impairment. LIMITATIONS: The present sample of young adults is still young relative to the age of onset of mood psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide the first evidence of the predictive validity of affective temperaments regarding risk for the development of bipolar psychopathology. Affective temperaments provide a useful construct for understanding bipolar psychopathology.

Affective temperaments: unique constructs or dimensions of normal personality by another name?

BACKGROUND: Current models theorize that affective temperaments underlie the development and expression of mood psychopathology. Recent studies support the construct validity of affective temperaments in clinical and non-clinical samples. However, one concern is that affective temperaments may be describing characteristics that are better captured by models of normal personality. We conducted two studies examining: (a) the association of affective temperaments with domains and facets of normal personality, and (b) whether affective temperaments accounted for variance in mood symptoms and disorders, impairment, and daily-life experiences over-and-above variance accounted for by normal personality. METHODS: Study 1 included 522 young adults who completed the TEMPS-A and the NEO-PI-3. Study 2 included 145 participants who were administered the TEMPS-A, NEO-FFI, interviews assessing psychopathology and impairment, and an assessment of daily life experiences. RESULTS: Study 1 revealed that personality domains and facets accounted for one-third to one-half of the variance in affective temperaments. However, study 2 demonstrated that affective temperaments accounted for unique variance in measures of psychopathology, impairment, and daily-life experiences after partialling variance associated with personality domains. Specifically, cyclothymic/irritable temperament predicted bipolar disorders, impairment, borderline personality traits, urgency, and anger in daily life. Hyperthymic temperament predicted hypomanic episodes, grandiosity, sensation seeking, and increased activity in daily life. LIMITATIONS: The study was limited by the fact that only domain, not facet-level, measures of FFM were available in study 2. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the validity of hyperthymic and cyclothymic/irritable temperaments as indicators of clinical psychopathology and indicate that they provide information beyond normal personality.