Latent classes of nonresponders, rapid responders, and gradual responders in depressed outpatients receiving antidepressant medication and psychotherapy.

BACKGROUND: We used growth mixture modeling (GMM) to identify subsets of patients with qualitatively distinct symptom trajectories resulting from treatment. Existing studies have focused on 12-week antidepressant trials. We used data from a concurrent antidepressant and psychotherapy trial over a 6-month period. METHOD: Eight hundred twenty-one patients were randomized to receive either fluoxetine or tianepine and received cognitive-behavioral therapy, supportive therapy, or psychodynamic therapy. Patients completed the Montgomery-Åsberg depression rating scale (MADRS) at the 0, 1, 3, and 6-month periods. Patients also completed measures of dysfunctional attitudes, functioning, and personality. GMM was conducted using MADRS scores and the number of growth classes to be retained was based on the Bayesian information criterion. RESULTS: Criteria supported the presence of four distinct latent growth classes representing gradual responders of high severity (42% of sample), gradual responders of moderate severity (31%), nonresponders (15%), and rapid responders (11%). Initial severity, greater use of emotional coping strategies, less use of avoidance coping strategies, introversion, and less emotional stability predicted nonresponder status. Growth classes were not associated with different treatments or with proportion of dropouts. CONCLUSIONS: The longer time period used in this study highlights potential overestimates of nonresponders in previous research and the need for continued assessments. Our findings demonstrate distinct growth trajectories that are independent of treatment modality and generalizable to most psychotherapy patients. The correlates of class membership provide directions for future studies, which can refine methods to predict likely nonresponders as a means to facilitate personalized treatments.

Antecedents of personality disorder in childhood and adolescence: toward an integrative developmental model.

Antecedents of personality disorder in childhood and adolescence have been a neglected area in official taxonomies of mental disorders such as the International Classification of Diseases or the different editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. An evolving research field, however, underscores the importance of antecedents for understanding psychopathology and personality pathology in adulthood. The current article summarizes the history, updates reviews, and incorporates new research findings into an integrative scheme for conceptualizing personality pathology in childhood and adolescence. Implications of this model for assessment, future research, and intervention are discussed.

The hierarchical structure and construct validity of the PID-5 trait measure in adolescence.

The DSM-5 may be the first edition that enables a developmental perspective on personality disorders because of its proposal to include a trait assessment in the Axis II section. The current study explores the reliability, structure, and construct validity of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5; Krueger, Derringer, Markon, Watson, & Skodol, 2012) in adolescents, a measure that assesses the proposed DSM-5 traits. A community sample of Flemish adolescents (N = 434; 44.7% male) provided self-reports on the PID-5 and the Dimensional Personality Symptom Itempool (DIPSI; De Clercq, De Fruyt, Van Leeuwen, & Mervielde, 2006). Results indicate an acceptable reliability for the majority of the PID-5 facets and a tendency toward structural convergence of the adolescent PID-5 structure with the adult proposal. Convergent validity with age-specific facets of personality pathology was generally supported, but discriminant validity appeared to be low. Beyond the findings that support the applicability of the PID-5 in adolescents, developmental issues may be responsible for specific differences in the adolescent PID-5 structure, the rather poor discriminant validity of the PID-5, and the lower reliability of a small number of PID-5 facets. These results indicate that further research on the validity of the PID-5 in younger age groups is required.

Advancements in the field of personality development.

A summary is provided what the fields of personality and developmental psychology had to offer each other the past decade, reflected in the eleven contributions enclosed in this special issue. Strengths and opportunities to further advance the field are identified, including the extension of general trait with maladaptive trait models, the use of alternative methods to assess personality, and the adoption of configural approaches to describe traits in individuals, beyond more traditional person-centered approaches.

Latent personality profiles and the relations with psychopathology and psychopathic traits in detained adolescents.

The present study constructed empirically derived subtypes of adolescent offenders based on general traits and examined their associations with psychopathology and psychopathic traits. The sample included 342 detained minors (172 boys and 170 girls; mean age 15.85 years, SD = 1.07) recruited in various Youth Detention Centers across the Flemish part of Belgium. All adolescents provided self-reports on the quick big five, the youth self report, and the youth psychopathic traits inventory to assess general traits, psychopathology, and psychopathic traits respectively. Latent class analyses based on general personality traits were performed and suggested three personality types, consisting of an emotionally labile, close-minded and goal-oriented class, an undercontrolled class, and an emotionally labile-careless class. These three personality types within detained minors showed particular constellations of general traits and differed meaningfully in terms of their mean-scores on externalizing psychopathology and psychopathy measures.

Within-person personality variability in the work context: A blessing or a curse for job performance?

Only recently, the question whether within-person personality variability is a blessing or a curse for job performance has reached the agendas of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology researchers. Yet, this limited stream of research resulted in inconsistent findings, and only little understanding exists about the role of rater source and mean-level personality in this relationship. Broadly following socioanalytic theory, the present study examined the extent to which self- and other-rated within-person personality variability predicts self- and other-rated job performance, and whether this is moderated by mean-level personality. Within-person personality variability indices and job performance evaluations were obtained from an experience sampling study including N = 166 teachers, N = 95 supervisors, and N = 69 classes (including 1,354 students). Results showed that-above and beyond the effects of mean-level personality-self-rated within-person variability was positively associated with self-rated job performance, while other-rated within-person variability was negatively associated with other-ratings of performance. Many interactions with mean-level personality were found, mainly demonstrating negative effects of variability for those with a less adaptive personality profile (cf. variability as a "curse"), while showing positive effects of variability for those with a more adaptive trait profile (cf. variability as a "blessing"). Importantly, however, additional analyses provided little evidence for associations across type of rater source. These findings contribute to the field of I-O psychology by highlighting that perceptions of within-person personality variability may impact performance evaluations beyond personality traits, although its desirability seems to depend on individuals' personality trait level. Implications and limitations are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Reciprocal relationships between narcissism and agentic versus communal work activities across the first 6 years of the career.

The vast majority of studies on trait narcissism have adopted a static unidirectional approach, documenting the mainly detrimental effects of this trait on a variety of work outcomes. The present study contributes to this literature by adopting a novel bidirectional perspective, investigating how trait narcissism shapes and is shaped by our experiences at work. Specifically, this study examines how trait narcissism develops during the first 6 years after the transition from college to work, and how agentic versus communal work demands may either enhance or diminish the development of this trait. Reciprocal relationships between narcissism and subjective and objective work activities are examined in a sample of 1,513 college alumni who were assessed four times across a time period of 6 years. Both selection (i.e., narcissism shapes work activities) and socialization effects (i.e., narcissism is shaped by work activities) were examined using bivariate latent change score models. Results showed that trait narcissism prior to the college-to-work transition positively predicted the selection of agentic work activities at the beginning of the career, but not future changes in these activities. Importantly, the results regarding socialization effects indicated that engagement in communal activities, particularly those that require relating with others at work (e.g., to help them), diminished trait narcissism over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A Five-Factor Model framework for understanding childhood personality disorder antecedents.

The present contribution reviews evidence that supports the relevance of childhood antecedents of personality disorders, and advocates that the validity of a Five-Factor Model framework for describing general trait differences in childhood can be extended towards the field of developmental personality difficulties. In addition, we suggest that several traditional childhood Axis I conditions include a substantial trait component that may be responsible for the recurring finding that childhood Axis I disorders are predictive for adult Axis II disorders. Given the valuable information provided by a trait assessment, we further propose to integrate dimensional personality and personality pathology measures as standard tools in mental health assessments at a young age.

Prevalence and determinants of personality disorders in a clinical sample of alcohol-, drug-, and dual-dependent patients.

The present study compares the prevalence rates of 12 personality disorders (PDs) among patients with alcohol, drug, and dual dependence through chi-square tests and analyses of variance. It further investigates possible predictors of these PDs through multiple linear regression analyses. Data were gathered in 2007-2008 among 274 patients admitted to intensive, residential substance abuse treatment programs in Belgium, using the ADP-IV (Assessment of DSM-IV Personality Disorders), the EuropASI (European version of the Addiction Severity Index), and the MINI (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview). The analyses showed that drug- and dual-dependent patients have higher PD prevalence rates than alcohol-dependent patients. The severity, but not the nature of the dependence, appears as an important predictor for personality pathology.

General and maladaptive personality dimensions in pediatric obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and impairing clinical disorder in childhood, often characterized by a heterogeneous symptomatic profile and high co-occurrence with other disorders. The present study introduces a new perspective on the description of OCD symptoms in youth, and empirically examines the value of a personality framework (e.g. Five Factor of Personality; FFM) for understanding early OCD symptomatology in a referred sample of 274 children and adolescents, relying on age-specific measures of general and maladaptive personality. Differences in general and maladaptive personality traits for high versus low-scoring children and adolescents on the Obsessive-Compulsive Scale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL-OCS) were explored. The discriminant validity of both higher-and lower-order personality traits was supported, showing that high CBCL-OCS scorers are characterized by specific personality features ranging from adaptive to pathological, especially in terms of Conscientiousness. In addition, personality traits contributed to the accurate classification of high- versus low-scorers on the CBCL-OCS. Implications for clinical practice and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Affective determinants of anxiety and depression development in children and adolescents: an individual growth curve analysis.

The tripartite model (in Clark and Watson, J Abnorm Psychol 100:316-336, 1991) comprises Negative Affect (NA), Positive Affect (PA), and Physiological Hyperarousal (PH), three temperamental-based dimensions. The current study examined the tripartite model's assumptions that (a) NA interacts with PA to predict subsequent depressive (but not anxiety) symptom developments and (b) NA interacts with PH to predict subsequent anxiety (but not depressive) symptom developments in a sample of 243 community and referred children and adolescents (42.8% boys; M age = 10.87 years, SD = 1.83). Results confirmed that individuals with a combined high NA/low PA profile display the least favorable course of depressive -but not anxiety- symptoms. In contrast with the model, the combination of NA and PH influenced the development of depression, but not anxiety. Relations were not moderated by sex or sample. Results revealed that the assessment of the tripartite components is warranted as it can help to identify children at risk for an unfavorable depressive symptom course.

SENNA Inventory for the Assessment of Social and Emotional Skills in Public School Students in Brazil: Measuring Both Identity and Self-Efficacy.

Responding to the need for school-based, broadly applicable, low-cost, and brief assessments of socio-emotional skills, we describe the conceptual background and empirical development of the SENNA inventory and provide new psychometric information on its internal structure. Data were obtained through a computerized survey from 50,000 Brazilian students enrolled in public school grades 6 to 12, spread across the entire State of São Paulo. The SENNA inventory was designed to assess 18 particular skills (e.g., empathy, responsibility, tolerance of frustration, and social initiative), each operationalized by nine items that represent three types of items: three positively keyed trait-identity items, three negatively keyed identity items, and three (always positively keyed) self-efficacy items, totaling a set of 162 items. Results show that the 18 skill constructs empirically defined a higher-order structure that we interpret as the social-emotional Big Five, labeled as Engaging with Others, Amity, Self-Management, Emotional Regulation, and Open-Mindedness. The same five factors emerged whether we assessed the 18 skills with items representing (a) a trait-identity approach that emphasizes lived skills (what do I typically do?) or (b) a self-efficacy approach that emphasizes capability (how well can I do that?). Given that its target youth group is as young as 11 years old (grade 6), a population particularly prone to the response bias of acquiescence, SENNA is also equipped to correct for individual differences in acquiescence, which are shown to systematically bias results when not corrected.

Are work activities related to interest change over time? A 22-year longitudinal study.

Research has shown that vocational interests are important predictors of a number of life outcomes. Therefore, understanding individuals' vocational interests can also help to explain and predict their attitudes, behavior, and motives. The goal of the present study was to examine changes in vocational interests over time and explore whether these changes could be partially explained by employees' interactions with their work environments. We started by developing a theoretical framework that links interest development to the broader notion of person-environment (P-E) fit. Using a sample of 933 individuals entering the workforce, vocational interests, ratings of the work environment, and job satisfaction were assessed at 3 time points over the course of a 22-year longitudinal study. Results showed both stability (correlations ranging from .26 to .80) and change (d's ranging from .03 to .34 in absolute value) in vocational interests over time. In addition, individual differences in vocational interest change were also associated with corresponding changes in the work environment, suggesting that employees gravitate toward work environments that fit with their interests and their vocational interests are then predicted by their experiences in these environments. Similarly, we found that job satisfaction was positively associated with changes in interest fit such that individuals who were more satisfied with their jobs also experienced greater changes in interest fit. These results suggest that interactions between individuals and their work environments can play an important role in shaping vocational interests and understanding employee behavior over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Patient and clinician perceptions of therapeutic alliance as predictors of improvement in depression.

BACKGROUND: Meta-analyses have consistently concluded that a positive therapeutic alliance is associated with better clinical outcomes and progress. To date, however, very few studies have focused on sociodemographic or clinical patient characteristics as moderators of alliance. METHOD: A multicenter longitudinal treatment outcome study was conducted to investigate the associations of patient and clinician perceptions of the therapeutic alliance with improvement in depression, and to investigate whether these associations were influenced by sociodemographic or clinical characteristics of the patient. Clinician-rated Montgomery Åsberg Depressive Rating Scale scores and both patient- and therapist-rated Helping Alliance Questionnaire (HAQ-I) scores were obtained from 567 outpatients with major depressive disorder who received 6 months of combined psycho- and pharmacotherapy. RESULTS: Multilevel repeated-measures analyses indicated that patient- and therapist-rated HAQ-I scores, 4 weeks after treatment began, positively predicted subsequent clinical change, controlling for the effect of early improvement and a range of patient characteristics. Next to alliance, early improvement, initial depressive symptom severity, a history of psychiatric disorders, and occupational status affected the rate of clinical improvement. Personality pathology comorbidity, marital and occupational status, and the atypical character of the major depressive episode (MDE) moderated the alliance-outcome relationship, depending on the informant (patient or therapist) of therapeutic alliance. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings suggest that therapist and patient ratings of therapeutic alliance predict therapeutic progress, and that this relation may be moderated by client characteristics, including personality pathology comorbidity, marital status, occupational status, and the atypical character of the MDE.

The validity and structure of culture-level personality scores: data from ratings of young adolescents.

We examined properties of culture-level personality traits in ratings of targets (N=5,109) ages 12 to 17 in 24 cultures. Aggregate scores were generalizable across gender, age, and relationship groups and showed convergence with culture-level scores from previous studies of self-reports and observer ratings of adults, but they were unrelated to national character stereotypes. Trait profiles also showed cross-study agreement within most cultures, 8 of which had not previously been studied. Multidimensional scaling showed that Western and non-Western cultures clustered along a dimension related to Extraversion. A culture-level factor analysis replicated earlier findings of a broad Extraversion factor but generally resembled the factor structure found in individuals. Continued analysis of aggregate personality scores is warranted.

Quality of life and social participation in dental rehabilitation: A personality and multi-informant perspective.

OBJECTIVES: Contemporary research on the impact of dental rehabilitation scarcely focuses on the role of personality and social relationships in QoL related to dental implant treatment. To overcome biases related to evaluation with self-reports, descriptions provided by informed external observers are recommended. AIMS: To investigate the impact of implant-supported rehabilitation on quality of life and social participation taking into account patient's personality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-four patients were included in this study and assigned to either a single unit group (n = 15) or a complete jaw restoration group (n = 39). Of the 54 participants, 49 nominated an external observer who can evaluate the daily behavior of the patient. Before and after treatment patients and their external observer completed the OHIP-14, the NEO-FFI and the MSPP questionnaires respectively focusing on Oral Health related Quality of Life, Personality and Social participation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The correlations between self- and observer ratings on pre and post treatment outcomes on were insignificant (QoL pre: p = 0.086, post: p = 0.115, freq. soc. part pre: p = 0.944, post: p = 0.876, div. soc. part pre: p = 0.798, post: p = 0.167), suggesting considerable differences in observer perspectives. The traits Neuroticism, Extraversion and Agreeableness were associated with QoL. Openness, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were associated with social participation. Patients in the complete jaw restoration group reported more impact of the implant treatment on quality of life as compared to the single unit group (p = 0.007). The complete jaw restoration group reported an improved quality of life after treatment and significant increases of both frequency (p = 0.001) and diversity of social participation (p = 0.036). In conclusion there was a minor impact of treatment with single crowns on quality of life and social participation compared to the full denture group. The role of personality and the use of multi-informants in evaluating dental treatment was found important.

Childhood antecedents of personality disorder: an alternative perspective.

One of the fundamental limitations of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) categorical model of personality disorder classification has been the lack of a strong scientific foundation, including an understanding of childhood antecedents. The DSM-IV-TR personality disorders, however, do appear to be well understood as maladaptive variants of the domains and facets of the general personality structure as conceptualized within the five-factor model (FFM). Integrating the classification of personality disorder with the FFM brings to an understanding of the personality disorders a considerable body of scientific research on childhood antecedents. The temperaments and traits of childhood do appear to be antecedent to the FFM of adult personality structure, and these temperament and traits of childhood and adolescence are the likely antecedents for adult personality disorder, providing further support for the conceptualization of the adult personality disorders as maladaptive variants of the domains and facets of the FFM. Conceptualizing personality disorders in terms of the FFM thereby provides a basis for integrating the classification of abnormal and normal personality functioning across the life span.

Childhood personality pathology: dimensional stability and change.

Studies on the developmental course of personality disorders have suggested that adult personality disorders enclose both features with a natural plasticity over time, as well as stable components represented by underlying trait dimensions. The current study broadens this dimensional stability perspective toward an earlier developmental stage, and describes with different indices of stability the longitudinal behavior of basic childhood maladaptive trait dimensions in a community sample of 477 Flemish children. The results underscore structural, rank-order, and within-person stability for the disagreeableness, emotional instability, introversion, and compulsivity dimensions and suggest a similar maturation principle as has been proposed for adults. Individual growth curve analyses indicate that children's maladaptive trait scores generally decrease as they grow older, with a smaller decline for high-scoring individuals. Childhood maladaptive traits and general psychopathology dimensions show similar longitudinal patterns in terms of shape and change over time, supporting a spectrum conceptualization of Axis I related pathology and personality disorder precursors at young age. The implications of these findings for a developmental perspective on dimensional conceptualizations of personality disorders are discussed.

Personality and psychopathology in Flemish referred children: five perspectives of continuity.

The present study investigates five types of continuity of personality and internalizing and externalizing problems (i.e., structural, differential, mean-level, individual-level and ipsative continuity) in a sample of referred children and adolescents (N = 114) with a broad variety of psychological problems. Mothers were administered a child personality and psychopathology measure, i.e., the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children [Handleiding hiërarchische persoonlijkheidsvragenlijst voor kinderen (manual hierarchical personality inventory for children). Ghent University, Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology, Ghent, 2005] and the Child Behavior Checklist [Handleiding voor de cbcl/4-18: (Manual of the CBCL/4-18), Afdeling Kinder- en Jeugdpsychiatrie. Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1996] at two measurement occasions, with a 26-months interval. Personality was substantially stable, paralleling findings for non-referred peers. Internalizing and Externalizing Problem Behavior were almost as stable as personality traits, suggesting that childhood psychopathology is more persistent than generally assumed. Strengths and limitations of the present study and implications for further research are discussed.

Personality symptoms and self-esteem as correlates of psychopathology in child psychiatric patients: evaluating multiple informant data.

Research on adulthood posits personality and self-esteem as important predictors of psychopathology. In childhood, however, the study of these relationships is complicated by the lack of consensus on how to combine data from multiple informants of child behavior. This study evaluates the relationships among personality symptoms, self-esteem and psychopathology in 60 child psychiatric patients (M (age) = 10.6) using principal component analysis (PCA) to aggregate data from multiple informants and compares this strategy with a single informant approach. When predictor and criterion measures were rated by a single informant, strong and differential relationships between personality symptoms, self-esteem and psychopathology are found. When multiple informant data were combined into composite scores by PCA, correlations decreased but remained significant. Hierarchical regression analyses affirm the robustness of the following pattern: Emotional Instability, Introversion and Global Self-Esteem are associated with internalizing whereas Disagreeableness and Behavioral Conduct primarily relate to externalizing problems.