Structure of Pathological Personality Traits Through the Lens of the CAT-PD Model.

Personality pathology is increasingly conceptualized within hierarchical, dimensional trait models. The Comprehensive Assessment of Traits Relevant to Personality Disorders (CAT-PD) is a pathological-trait measure with potential to improve on currently prevailing instruments because it has wider content coverage; however, its domain-level structure, which is of scientific and clinical interest, is not established. In this study, we investigated the structure and construct validity of the CAT-PD's domain level to facilitate wider use of the measure. We estimated five- and six-factor models with exploratory factor analysis in a pooled sample of eight independent subsamples (N = 3,987) and found that both models fit the data well; each had interpretable factors that were invariant across gender, sample type, and Black/White racial groups; and the factors had good convergent validity with other measures of maladaptive traits, Big Five personality, and interpersonal problems. Our results support the validity of the CAT-PD for assessing multiple levels of the pathological trait hierarchy.

Longitudinal patterns of neuroendocrine coupling from middle childhood to early adolescence.

Recent scholarship has highlighted the importance of understanding relations between hormones, rather than studying hormones in isolation. Considering neuroendocrine coupling, or the coordination of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis hormones over time, is one way to investigate how systems governing stress responsiveness and pubertal development covary during critical periods. To date, however, most work has considered hormone coupling cross-sectionally. The current study investigated neuroendocrine coupling in a longitudinal sample from the Northeastern United States. Youth (N = 437, 53% male, 90% White) provided saliva samples for analysis of diurnal hormone activity at ages 9 (three samples per day across 3 days) and 12 (one sample per day on the same weekday for 4 weeks). At both timepoints, samples collected 30-min after waking were assayed for cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and testosterone. Multilevel growth modeling was used to determine how levels of morning cortisol changed in tandem with DHEA and testosterone. Morning cortisol-DHEA coupling varied by child sex, as males' cortisol-DHEA diminished over time, especially among pubertally advanced males. Females, in contrast, demonstrated strengthening cortisol-DHEA coupling over time, especially more pubertally advanced females. Morning cortisol-testosterone coupling did not vary by sex or pubertal status, demonstrating strengthening associations between ages 9 and 12. The current findings contribute to the literature on hormone coupling across development and expand this work into an earlier developmental phase than previously investigated.

Conceptualization of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD): Can Theoretical or Data Driven Approaches Improve the Construct Validity of AUD?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5) definition of alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been criticized on the ground that it leads to high prevalence rates and a highly heterogeneous group. Failure of the DSM to consider development may exacerbate these issues (e.g., conflating experimentation with problematic drinking). Wakefield and Schmitz (2015) proposed a definition of AUD that comports to the harmful dysfunction (HD) theory of mental disorders while data-driven approaches have suggested that key symptoms like craving, failure to fulfill obligations, hazardous use, and alcohol use despite interpersonal consequences are optimal (OPT) criteria for AUD (Stevens et al., 2019). Prior work suggests both may reduce the likelihood of conflating experimentation with problematic drinking during key developmental periods. Continuous and categorical structural equation models of DSM, HD, and OPT criteria were compared on A) prevalence, B) patterns of alcohol use in adolescence (age 10-18 years) C) early AUD symptoms in adolescence (age 13-15) and D) concurrent alcohol use and alcohol consequences to assess prospective and concurrent convergent validity using a longitudinal design (N = 765; ages 10-21 years). Results supported prior literature that the HD and OPT criteria produced a smaller diagnostic class than the DSM. Furthermore, the HD and OPT criteria had larger and more consistent effects with validators than the DSM with the OPT criteria having the largest effects and the least criteria. Future work should consider whether the OPT or HD criteria better reflect AUD severity than the DSM across development.

Understanding the Progression from Early Alcohol Use Experimentation to Alcohol Use Disorder: Testing Vulnerability by Experience Interactions Using a Two-Part Latent Growth Curve Model.

Most adolescents experiment with alcohol, but a smaller percentage advance to heavy alcohol use (AU) and AU disorder (AUD). Understanding for whom and how early risk leads to AUD is of interest to prevention, treatment, and etiology of AUD. Informed by developmental and behavioral neuroscience theory, the current study tested whether temperament (effortful control, surgency, and negative affect), peer AU (multi-reporter), and AU with parents' permission interacted to distinguish youth who experiment with alcohol from those who escalate to AUD. Community adolescents (N = 765, 53% female) were assessed annually for seven years (Mage = 11.8, range: 10-13 at Year 1; Mage = 18.7; range = 17-20 at year 7). Temperament by early experience interactions were expected to predict amount of AU. Amount of AU was expected to mediate the relationship between the interactions and AUD symptoms (assessed at Years 3 and 7, Mage = 13.8 and 18.7) above and beyond a range of confounds (e.g., problem behavior and parental AU and AUD). Supporting hypotheses, effortful control and surgency interacted with AU with parents' permission and peer AU, respectively, to predict higher amount of AU (R2 = 0.47) and AUD symptoms (R2 = 0.03). Results support developmental and behavioral neuroscience theory. High surgency and low effortful control in conjunction with peer AU and AU with parents' permission were associated with large effects on AU and moderate mediated effects through AU to AUD. AU with parents' permission was risky at low and high effortful control and protective when peers used alcohol.

Testing alternative cascades from internalizing and externalizing symptoms to adolescent alcohol use and alcohol use disorder through co-occurring symptoms and peer delinquency.

Given the equivocal literature on the relationship between internalizing symptoms and early adolescent alcohol use (AU) and AU disorder (AUD), the present study took a developmental perspective to understand how internalizing and externalizing symptoms may operate together in the etiology of AU and AUD. We pit the delayed onset and rapid escalation hypothesis (Hussong et al., 2011) against a synthesis of the dual failure model and the stable co-occurring hypothesis (Capaldi, 1992; Colder et al., 2013, 2018) to test competing developmental pathways to adolescent AU and AUD involving problem behavior, peer delinquency, and early initiation of AU. A latent transactional and mediational framework was used to test pathways to AUD spanning developmental periods before AU initiation (Mage = 11) to early and high risk for AUD (Mage = 14-15 and Mage = 17-18). The results supported three pathways to AUD. The first started with "pure" externalizing symptoms in early childhood and involved multiple mediators, including the subsequent development of co-occurring symptoms and peer delinquency. The second pathway involved stable co-occurring symptoms. Interestingly, chronically elevated pure internalizing symptoms did not figure prominently in pathways to AUD. Selection and socialization effects between early AU and peer delinquency constituted a third pathway.

Carving depression at its joints? Psychometric properties of the Sydney Melancholia Prototype Index.

Parker and colleagues developed the Sydney Melancholia Prototype Index (SMPI), a 24-item measure to assess a potential subtype of depression: melancholia. While research supports the validity of the measure, no study has assessed its psychometric properties. We recruited 1633 participants online, of whom 487 reported a lifetime period of depressed mood or anhedonia and were administered the SMPI. We conducted confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the SMPI, to assess the proposed fit of the measure. We also conducted exploratory factor analyses (EFA) to explore the structure implied by the current data. CFA did not support the hypothesized factor structure of the SMPI, no matter what structure we assumed as primary (i.e., a one factor, two factor, or bifactor model). An EFA suggested a five-factor solution wherein several items did not appear to co-vary reliably and other factors captured the severity of melancholic symptoms, negative mood reactivity, positive mood reactivity, emotionality and family relationships, and early life adversity. The SMPI may not measure a single construct. Future research should explore the longitudinal association between depression severity, contaminant symptoms, positive and negative mood reactivity, and early life experiences.

Effectively Assessing Treatment Needs in Incarcerated Seriously Mentally Ill Individuals: The Utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory-Level of Care Index.

Early identification of treatment needs in incarcerated individuals with serious mental illness has significant implications. Validated assessment instruments to guide treatment are lacking in correctional settings. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the predictive validity of the Level of Care Index (LOCI) in 35 inmates admitted to a specialized treatment unit. The LOCI score was predictive of levels of depressogenic psychopathology and psychological well-being as well as changes in these constructs over time. These results validate the use of the LOCI in a correctional setting and demonstrate the utility of the LOCI to identify treatment trajectories.

Drinking and exercise behaviors among college students: between and within-person associations.

Prior work has suggested a paradoxical positive relationship between the risk behavior alcohol use and the health behavior exercise, particularly in young adults. Though seldom tested, different theoretical perspectives exist on the mechanisms that may explain the positive relationship. The aims of this study were to test theorized mechanisms of association, including common causes shared by both behaviors (e.g., personality, motives, affective), compensatory processes such as exercising to compensate for calories from alcohol consumption, and methodological confounds (e.g., between vs. within subject effects) in a college sample (N = 132; 56.3% male; 76% Caucasian; M age = 19.15, SD = 0.99) using a cross-sectional design and time line follow back methods. A positive, between-subjects association between alcohol and exercise was found and explained by exercising to compensate for calories of alcohol consumption, enhancement motives, and physical activity enjoyment. However, we also observed a significant and negative within-subjects association between the two constructs, suggesting that, on a given day, individuals who exercise more tended to drink less. Furthermore, individuals who exercised more during the week tended to have declines in weekend drinking over time. Results suggest a complex relationship between exercise and alcohol use among young adults, and highlight the importance of distinguishing between and within subject processes, as well as the temporal ordering of the two behaviors. Implications are discussed in regard to theory, prevention, and intervention.

Trajectories of marijuana use from late childhood to late adolescence: Can Temperament × Experience interactions discriminate different trajectories of marijuana use?

Informed by developmental ecological and epigenetic theory, the current study examined three aims concerning adolescent marijuana use with a large community sample (N = 755; gender = 53% female) and six annual assessments that spanned 11-18 years of age. First, the natural history of adolescent marijuana use was modeled using a two-part latent growth curve analysis. Second, the validity of the mixtures was examined with a broad array of known correlates of adolescent marijuana use. Third, temperament (e.g., surgency, effortful control, and negative affect) was tested as individual differences that would enter into statistical interactions with peer substance use and prior alcohol and cigarette use to distinguish trajectories of marijuana use. The results suggested that escalations in marijuana use were observed for some youth who initiated marijuana use early in adolescence. Youth whose marijuana use did escalate substantially (10%) were distinguished on temperament, conduct disorder, peer delinquency, and pubertal development at baseline. Furthermore, hypothesized interactions between surgency and both peer substance use and prior substance use discriminated different patterns of marijuana use. The findings are discussed with respect to strategies for timing and content of preventive interventions.

Misperception and accurate perception of close friend substance use in early adolescence: Developmental and intervention implications.

Misperceptions of peer substance use (SU) are believed to be a robust correlate of adolescent SU; however, perceived peer SU is biased in the direction of an adolescent's own SU raising questions about the validity of perceived peer SU (social norms; Henry, Kobus, & Schoeny, 2011). In addition, social norm theories emphasize inaccurate perceptions of peer SU while other theories emphasize actual peer behavior and selection of friends as motivators of adolescent SU. Furthermore, no theories consider the role of accurate perceptions, suggesting the need to more carefully consider the coevolution of perceived peer norms, actual peer behavior, and adolescent SU. To do this, we modeled the latent structure of accurate and inaccurate perceptions of peer SU while including an adolescent's own SU using latent class analysis and tested the natural evolution of the classes using latent transition analysis. The design included 3 annual assessments of peer and perceptions of peer SU and 6 assessments of adolescent SU (N = 765; age = 10-13 at Wave 1; female = 53%). Latent class analysis findings largely replicated Henry et al. (2011), suggesting that misperceptions of peer SU were biased by an adolescent's own SU. We also found 3 distinct pathways to a high risk class that predicted high levels of later adolescent SU, 2 in which adolescent and perceived peer SU preceded peer SU (age = 10-12 and 12-14) and another in which peer SU preceded adolescent SU and perceptions of peer SU (age = 12-14). Implications for peer influence theories are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Selection and Socialization Effects in Early Adolescent Alcohol Use: A Propensity Score Analysis.

The robust correlation between peer and adolescent alcohol use (AU) has been taken as evidence for both socialization and selection processes in the etiology of adolescent AU. Accumulating evidence from studies using a diverse range of methodological and statistical approaches suggests that both processes are involved. A major challenge in testing whether peer AU predicts an adolescent's drinking (socialization) or whether an adolescent's drinking predicts peer AU (selection) is the myriad of potentially confounding factors that might lead to an overestimation of socialization and selection effects. After creating AU transition groups based on peer and adolescent AU across two waves (N = 765; age = 10-15; 53% female), we test whether transitions into AU by adolescents and peers predict later peer and adolescent AU respectively, using (1) propensity score analysis to balance transition groups on 26 potential confounds, (2) a longitudinal design with three waves to establish temporal precedence, and (3) both adolescent (target) and peer self-report of peer AU to disentangle effects attributable to shared reporter bias. Both selection and socialization were supported using both peer self-report of AU and adolescent-report of peer AU. Although cross-sectional analyses suggested peer self-reported models were associated with smaller effects than perceived peer AU, longitudinal analyses suggest a similar sized effect across reporter of peer AU for both selection and socialization. The implications of these findings for the etiology and treatment of adolescent AU are discussed.

Internalizing and externalizing problem behavior and early adolescent substance use: a test of a latent variable interaction and conditional indirect effects.

Externalizing problem behavior is a robust predictor of early adolescent substance use (SU); however, findings regarding internalizing problems have been mixed, suggesting that there may be important moderators of the relationship between internalizing problems and SU. The present study used a community sample (mean age was 12.1 at the first assessment, 55% women, 83% White) to test a longitudinal latent variable interaction structural equation model to examine whether externalizing problems moderated the relationship between internalizing problems and SU. Peer delinquency was tested as a mediator in the model and prior levels of the mediator and outcome were controlled at each wave to establish temporal precedence. Results suggested that (1) internalizing problems were protective against associating with deviant peers, but only at high levels of externalizing symptomatology, (2) higher levels of peer delinquency were associated with increases in SU, and (3) peer delinquency mediated the effect of the problem behavior interaction on SU. Our findings suggest that the impact of internalizing problems on peer delinquency and SU needs to be considered in the context of externalizing problems. Moreover, developmental models involving internalizing symptoms should consider that internalizing symptoms are generally protective against substance use in early adolescence.

Skill learning induced plasticity of motor cortical representations is time and age-dependent.

Movement representations in the motor cortex can reorganize to support motor skill learning during young adulthood. However, little is known about how motor representations change during aging or whether their change is influenced by continued practice of a skill after it is learned. We used intracortical microstimulation to characterize the organization of the forelimb motor cortex in young and aged C57/BL6 mice after short (2-4 weeks) or long (8 weeks) durations of training on a skilled reaching task or control procedures. In young mice, a short duration of reach training increased the area of proximal forelimb movement representations at the expense of distal representations. Following a longer training duration, ratios of proximal to distal movements returned to baseline, even with ongoing practice and skill maintenance. However, lingering changes were evident in thresholds for eliciting distal forelimb movements, which declined over the longer training period. In aged mice, movement representations and movement thresholds failed to change after either duration of training. Furthermore, there was an age-related loss of digit representations and performance decrements on other sensorimotor tests. Nevertheless, in quantitative measures of reaching success, aged mice learned and performed the skilled reaching task at least as well as younger mice. These results indicate that experience-driven topographical reorganization of motor cortex varies with age, as well as time, and is partially dissociable from behavioral performance. They also support an enduring capacity to learn new manual skills during aging, even as more youthful forms of cortical plasticity and sensorimotor function are lost.