Relative Effects of Sexual Assault and Temperament Traits on Cognitive Characteristics of Histrionic Personality Disorder.

Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a common and problematic form of personality pathology involving excessive attention-seeking, often through overly sexualized means. Much of the research on HPD has involved the association between HPD characteristics and basic temperament traits. Given the sometimes hypersexualized presentation of HPD, another potential influence on HPD characteristics may be exposure to sexual assault. However, there is little research on the association between sexual assault and HPD in general or with respect to temperament traits in particular. In this study, we examine the relative associations of sexual assault and temperament traits with the cognitive characteristics of HPD in a large sample of college students (N = 965) using a Bayesian approach to the analysis of covariance. Results suggest that sexual assault is associated with HPD cognitive characteristics over and above the robust influence of temperament traits. The study findings have implications for future research on and clinical intervention with people with HPD.

Empathy Mind-Set Moderates the Association Between Low Empathy and Social Aggression.

Empathy plays an important role in creating and maintaining adaptive interpersonal relationships. Accordingly, existing studies often report a negative correlation between empathy and interpersonal aggression. However, findings are sometimes inconsistent, and concerns have been raised about the size of the overall effect. Here, we examined the potential moderating role of empathy mind-sets-beliefs about the malleability of empathy. We hypothesized that the association between low empathy and aggression would be especially strong if individuals also believed that their levels of empathy were unchangeable (i.e., they endorsed a fixed mind-set about empathy); in contrast, a belief that empathy was malleable may weaken the association. Results supported this hypothesis, such that individuals with low levels of empathy were less likely to report aggression-social aggression in particular-if they also believed that empathy was changeable. These results point to a role for beliefs about the malleability of empathy as an important moderator and may point to ways to enhance empathy interventions by targeting mind-sets.

Comparing Signal-Contingent and Event-Contingent Experience Sampling Ratings of Affect in a Sample of Psychotherapy Outpatients.

Experience sampling methods are widely used in clinical psychology to study affective dynamics in psychopathology. The present study examined whether affect ratings (valence and arousal) differed as a function of assessment schedule (signal- versus event-contingent) in a clinical sample and considered various approaches to modeling these ratings. A total of 40 community mental health center outpatients completed ratings of their affective experiences over a 21-day period using both signal-contingent schedules (random prompts) and event-contingent schedules (ratings following social interactions). We tested whether assessment schedules impacted 1) the central tendency (mean) and variability (standard deviation) of valence or arousal considered individually, 2) the joint variability in valence and arousal via the entropy metric, and 3) the between-person differences in configuration of valence-arousal landscapes via the Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) metric. We found that event-contingent schedules, relative to signal-contingent schedules, captured higher average levels of pleasant valence and emotional arousal ratings. Moreover, signal-contingent schedules captured greater variability within and between individuals on arousal-valence landscapes compared to event-contingent schedules. Altogether, findings suggest that the two assessment schedules should not be treated interchangeably in the assessment of affect over time. Researchers must be cautious in generalizing results across studies utilizing different experience sampling assessment schedules.

Pathological narcissism and the severity, variability, and instability of depressive symptoms.

This study extended previous theory and cross-sectional research on narcissism-depression associations by taking a prospective longitudinal approach to examining how pathological narcissism relates to the severity, within-person variability, within-person instability, and change in depressive symptoms among a sample of 235 undergraduate students assessed weekly for 8 weeks. Findings revealed that, at baseline, pathological narcissism was concurrently positively associated with multiple measures of depressive symptoms (e.g., general depression, anhedonic loss of interest, anhedonic lack of positive affect) and distinctively predicted the severity of anhedonic loss of interest over time. Pathological narcissism assessed at baseline also predicted higher variability and instability in both general depression and loss of interest (but not lack of positive affect), and related to less change in loss of interest over 8 weeks. The results of the present study are discussed in the context of existing research on narcissism-depression relations and suggestions for future research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record

Pathological Narcissism and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury.

Few studies have examined associations between pathological narcissism and self-harm, but those that do indicate that narcissistic vulnerability (not narcissistic grandiosity) relates to self-harm. The current study extends this literature by investigating how facets of pathological narcissism assessed by the Pathological Narcissism Inventory relate to specific nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors assessed by the Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury using statistical models appropriate for non-normally distributed count data. In a sample of 1,023 undergraduate students, results revealed that facets of both narcissistic vulnerability and narcissistic grandiosity were differentially related to the endorsement and frequency of specific NSSI behaviors and higher-order latent NSSI factors (repetitive and impulsive), even after accounting for levels of borderline pathology. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Multisurface Interpersonal Assessment in a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Context.

The interpersonal paradigm of personality assessment provides a rich nomological net for describing and assessing constructs of interpersonal functioning. The aim of this article is to demonstrate for clinicians how the use of a multisurface interpersonal assessment (MSIA) battery can augment psychotherapy (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy). We present 2 clinical case examples and specify interpretative guidelines for MSIA that integrate multiple circumplex profiles (e.g., problems, traits, sensitivities, strengths, values, and efficacies) for each patient. Subsequently, we demonstrate how this approach provides a context to better understand patient symptoms and difficulties, and discuss how it can inform case conceptualization, treatment planning, and intervention.

The role of implicit theories in mental health symptoms, emotion regulation, and hypothetical treatment choices in college students.

Beliefs about how much people can change their attributes - implicit theories - influence affective and cognitive responses to performance and subsequent motivation. Those who believe their attributes are fixed view setbacks as threatening and avoid challenging situations. In contrast, those who believe these attributes are malleable embrace challenges as opportunities to grow. Although implicit theories would seem to have important mental health implications, the research linking them with clinical applications is limited. To address this gap, we assessed how implicit theories of anxiety, emotion, intelligence, and personality related to various symptoms of anxiety and depression, emotion-regulation strategies, and hypothetical treatment choices (e.g., medication versus therapy) in two undergraduate samples. Across both samples, individuals who believed their attributes could change reported fewer mental health symptoms, greater use of cognitive reappraisal, and were more likely to choose individual therapy over medication. These findings suggest that implicit theories may play an important role in the nature and treatment of mental health problems.

Heterogeneity of interpersonal problems among depressed young adults: associations with substance abuse and pathological personality traits.

This study extended previous theory and research on interpersonal heterogeneity in depression by identifying groups of depressed young adults who differ in their type and degree of interpersonal problems, and by examining patterns of pathological personality traits and alcohol abuse among these groups. We examined the interpersonal problems, personality traits, and alcohol-related problems of 172 college students with at least moderate levels of self-reported depression on the Patient Health Questionnaire (Spitzer, Kroenke, & Williams, 1999). Scores from the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Short Circumplex (Soldz, Budman, Demby, & Merry, 1995) were subjected to latent profile analysis, which classified individuals into 5 distinct groups defined by the types of interpersonal problems they experience (dominant, warm, submissive, cold, and undifferentiated). As hypothesized, groups did not differ in depression severity, but did show predicted patterns of differences on normative and maladaptive personality traits, as well as alcohol-related problems. The presence of clinically meaningful interpersonal heterogeneity in depression could have important implications for designing more individualized treatments and prevention efforts for depression that target diverse associated interpersonal problems.