Pre-Assault Personality Predicts the Nature of Adverse Outcomes Among Sexual Assault Victims.

OBJECTIVE: Exposure to sexual assault results in ongoing harms for women. After an assault, some women engage in higher levels of externalizing behaviors, such as problem drinking, and others experience higher levels of internalizing dysfunction, such as symptoms of anxiety and depression. We sought to understand the role of premorbid factors on the different post-assault experiences of women. METHOD: We studied 1,929 women prospectively during a period of high risk for sexual assault (the first year of college): women were assessed in July before arriving at college and in April near the end of the school year. RESULTS: A premorbid personality disposition to act impulsively when distressed (negative urgency) interacted positively with sexual assault experience to predict subsequent increases in drinking behavior; a premorbid personality disposition toward internalizing dysfunction positively interacted with sexual assault experience to predict increased symptoms of anxiety and depression. CONCLUSIONS: Women with different personalities tend to experience different forms of post-assault consequences.

Serum IL-18 level, clinical symptoms and IL-18-607A/C polymorphism among chronic patients with schizophrenia in a Chinese Han population.

Literature suggests that alterations in the inflammatory and immune systems are involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Specifically, patients diagnosed with schizophrenia exhibit increased IL-18, a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine in type 1 T-helper (Th1) responses. The functional 607A/C promoter polymorphism of the IL-18 gene is also associated with the psychopathology of this disorder. However, no current study has explored its role in the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia as mediated through IL-18 levels. We recruited 772 inpatients with schizophrenia and 775 healthy controls in a Han Chinese population and genotyped the IL-18-607A/C polymorphism. Patient psychopathology was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Serum IL-18 levels were measured in 80 patients and 93 healthy controls. Our results showed that there were no significant differences in the distribution of the allele and genotype frequencies between the patients and controls. Both increased IL-18 serum level and the IL-18-607A/C polymorphism were positively associated with the PANSS general psychopathology subscore and the PANSS total score. Moreover, interaction of increased IL-18 serum level and the IL-18-607A/C polymorphism influenced the clinical psychopathological symptoms, indicating that association of IL-18 level with the PANSS general psychopathology subscale or the total scores was present only among patients carrying the C allele. We demonstrate an association between the IL-18-607A/C variant and clinical psychopathological symptoms in schizophrenia. Findings suggest that the association between higher IL-18 levels and clinical symptoms in schizophrenia is dependent on the IL-18-607A/C polymorphism.

Nonsuicidal Self-injury as a Risk Factor for Purging Onset: Negatively Reinforced Behaviours that Reduce Emotional Distress.

Both nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and purging behaviour are thought to involve harm to the self. The acquired capability for self-harm model holds that engaging in one self-harming behaviour increases the capability to tolerate harm to the self, thus increasing risk for engaging on other such behaviours. In addition, both behaviours are thought to serve the similar function of relief from distress. We thus tested whether engagement in one of these behaviours predicts the subsequent onset of the other. In a longitudinal design, 1158 first-year college women were assessed for purging and NSSI at two time points. Engagement in NSSI at time 1 predicted the college onset of purging behaviour 9 months later (OR = 2.20, p < .04, CI = 1.07-4.19) beyond prediction from time 1 binge behaviour, and purging behaviour at time 1 predicted the subsequent onset of NSSI (OR = 6.54, p < .01, CI = 1.71-25.04). These findings are consistent with the acquired capability for harm model and with the possibility that the two behaviours serve a similar function.

Negative Urgency and Lack of Perseverance: Identification of Differential Pathways of Onset and Maintenance Risk in the Longitudinal Prediction of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury.

Many researchers have identified impulsivity-related personality traits as correlates of and risk factors for nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Using a longitudinal design, we tested the hypothesis that one such trait, negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when distressed), predicts the onset of NSSI during the first year of college and a different trait, lack of perseverance (the disposition to fail to maintain focus on tasks that are difficult or boring), predicts the maintenance of NSSI during the first year of college. In a sample of n=1,158 college women (mean age=18.04, 95% of participants were 18 at Time 1), we found support for these hypotheses. Negative urgency, measured prior to college entry, predicted the onset of NSSI behavior across the first year of college (odds ratio=1.58). Lack of perseverance predicted the maintenance of NSSI status across the first year of college, controlling for prior NSSI behavior (odds ratio=1.73). These findings indicate that different impulsivity-related personality traits may play different roles in the risk process for NSSI.

An Exploration of Sexual Victimization and Academic Performance Among College Women.

The literature has documented the widespread nature of sexual assault victimization among college women. While the aftermath of violence against university women has also received focus, that is, documenting trauma-related sequelae; risk factors; reporting patterns; and legal interventions, the impact on academic performance has not received adequate attention in the literature. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the association of rape and sexual assault with academic performance among college women. Its specific aims included the following: to compare high school and college sexual assault experiences with collegiate grade point averages (GPAs) at key points in time; to examine any differences in GPA by type of sexual assault; to urge researchers studying retention and persistence patterns or sexual assault among college students to ensure that the relationship between the two is included in research designs; and to recommend that academic institutions expand programming on retention to include rape and sexual assault among the risk factors associated with a lack of persistence.

Individual Differences in Personality Predict Externalizing versus Internalizing Outcomes Following Sexual Assault.

For some women, the experience of being sexually assaulted leads to increases in externalizing behaviors, such as problem drinking and drug use; for other women, the experience of being assaulted leads to increases in internalizing distress like depression or anxiety. It is possible that pre-assault personality traits interact with sexual assault to predict externalizing or internalizing distress. We tested whether concurrent relationships among personality, sexual assault, and distress were consistent with such a model. We surveyed 750 women just prior to their freshman year at a large public university. Consistent with our hypotheses, at low levels of negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when distressed), sexual assault exposure had little relationship to problem drinking and drug use. At high levels of negative urgency, being sexually assaulted was highly associated with those externalizing behaviors. At low levels of internalizing personality traits, being assaulted had little relationship to depression and anxiety symptoms; at high levels of the traits, assault experience was highly related to those symptoms. Personality assessment could lead to more person-specific post-assault interventions.

Emotion-based impulsivity, smoking expectancies, and nicotine dependence in college students.

The aim of this study was to enhance our understanding of the relationship between affect-related dispositions to rash action, negative urgency (NU: the tendency to act rashly when in a negative mood), positive urgency (PU: the tendency to act rashly when in a positive mood) and level of nicotine dependence symptoms by examining how the two traits transact with affect-related smoking expectancies. Based on the Acquired Preparedness model of addictive behaviors, we hypothesized that the relationship between PU and level of nicotine dependence would be mediated by positive affect smoking expectancies. We also hypothesized that the relationship between NU and level of nicotine dependence would be mediated by negative affect reduction expectancies. We studied 139 college-aged smokers and found support for this model; positive affect expectancies for smoking mediated the relationship between PU and level of nicotine dependence symptoms. Negative affect reduction smoking expectancies mediated the relationship between NU and level of nicotine dependence. The clinical implications of this research suggest that prevention/intervention programs should include substance-free activities as reinforcement and as ways to deal with extreme positive and negative mood.

Preadolescent disordered eating predicts subsequent eating dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE: This article tested whether disordered eating in the spring of sixth grade can be predicted by the behaviors of fifth grade elementary school children. METHOD: Measurements of disordered eating were collected from 1906 children (mean age = 10.86 years) at Time 1 (spring of fifth grade), Time 2 (fall of sixth grade), and Time 3 (spring of sixth grade). RESULTS: A number of fifth grade children reported disordered eating during the previous 2 weeks: 12.1% reported objective binge episodes, 4.8% reported purging food, and 9.8% reported restricting food intake. These behaviors predicted disordered eating during the spring of sixth grade. In addition, fifth grade pubertal onset predicted higher levels of restricting for girls. CONCLUSION: A substantial number of fifth grade children reported disordered eating behaviors, and these behaviors predicted disordered eating behaviors in the spring of sixth grade. Disordered eating can be studied at least as early as fifth grade.

A longitudinal transactional risk model for early eating disorder onset.

The presence of binge eating behavior in early middle school predicts future diagnoses and health difficulties. We showed that this early binge eating behavior can be predicted by risk factors assessed in elementary school. We tested the acquired preparedness model of risk, which involves transactions among personality, psychosocial learning, and binge eating. In a sample of 1,906 children assessed in the spring of fifth grade (the last year of elementary school), the fall of sixth grade, and the spring of sixth grade, we found that fifth grade negative urgency (the personality tendency to act rashly when distressed) predicted subsequent increases in the expectancy that eating helps alleviate negative affect, which in turn predicted subsequent increases in binge eating behavior. This transactional risk process appeared to continue to occur at later time points. Negative urgency in the fall of sixth grade was predicted by fifth grade pubertal onset, binge eating behavior, and expectancies. In turn, it predicted increases in high-risk eating expectancies by the spring of sixth grade, and thus heightened risk.

Clarifying the construct of perfectionism.

The construct of perfectionism is related to many important outcome variables. However, the term perfectionism has been defined in many different ways, and items comprising the different existing scales appear to be very different in content. The overarching aim of the present set of studies was to help clarify the specific unidimensional personality constructs that contribute to perfectionistic behavior. First, trained raters reliably sorted items from existing measures of perfectionism into nine dimensions. An exploratory factor analysis, followed by a confirmatory factor analysis on an independent sample, resulted in a 9-scale, 61-item measure, called the Measure of Constructs Underlying Perfectionism. The nine scales were internally consistent and stable across time, and they were differentially associated with relevant measures of personality in theoretically meaningful ways.

The acquired preparedness risk model applied to smoking in 5th grade children.

The very early onset of smoking predicts numerous health problems. The authors conducted the first test of one risk model for elementary school age smoking, known as the acquired preparedness (AP) model of risk, in a cross-sectional sample of 309 5th grade children. The model posits that (a) impulsivity-related personality traits contribute to risk for a variety of risky, maladaptive behaviors; (b) smoking expectancies confer risk only for smoking; and (c) the personality traits contribute to the formation of high risk expectancies for reinforcement from smoking, which in turn increases the likelihood of early onset smoking. The model was supported: the high-risk personality traits distinguished children engaging in any risky, maladaptive behavior from other children, and the smoking expectancies differentiated smokers from all other children. The relationship between personality tendencies to act rashly when experiencing intense positive or negative emotions and smoker status was partially mediated by expectancies for reinforcement from smoking. This model should be investigated longitudinally.

Negative urgency: a personality predictor of externalizing behavior characterized by neuroticism, low conscientiousness, and disagreeableness.

Negative urgency, the tendency to act rashly when distressed, is characterized by high Neuroticism, low Conscientiousness, and low Agreeableness. Because of this set of characteristics, the authors hypothesized that (1) negative urgency (NU) is a particularly important predictor of externalizing dysfunction; (2) traits that reflect primarily high Neuroticism predict internalizing dysfunction; and (3) traits that reflect primarily low Conscientiousness predict those types of externalizing dysfunction that include intense affect less strongly than does NU. In three studies, the authors showed that negative urgency concurrently predicted alcohol dependence symptoms in disordered women, drinking problems and smoker status in preadolescents, and aggression, risky sex, illegal drug use, drinking problems, and conduct disordered behavior in college students. High Neuroticism traits predicted internalizing dysfunction but predicted none of these externalizing criteria beyond negative urgency. Low Conscientiousness did not add to prediction from negative urgency, except in a few cases. The tendency toward affect-driven rash action may underlie many externalizing behaviors.

A risk model for preadolescent disordered eating.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested this risk model for disordered eating in preadolescent girls: pubertal onset is associated with increases in negative urgency (the personality tendency to act rashly when distressed); negative urgency influences eating disorder symptoms by shaping psychosocial learning (expectancy formation), thus indirectly influencing symptom levels; and many influences on purging are mediated by binge eating. METHOD: Nine hundred five fifth grade girls completed questionnaire measures of eating pathology, negative urgency, and dieting/thinness and eating expectancies. RESULTS: Binge eating and purging behaviors were present in fifth grade girls. As anticipated, pubertal status was associated with higher levels of negative urgency, negative urgency was associated with each expectancy measure, quadratic dieting/thinness and eating expectancies were associated with binge eating, and binge eating was associated with purging. DISCUSSION: It is important and feasible to develop risk models for preadolescent eating disordered behaviors. Our model that integrates puberty, personality, and psychosocial learning appears promising.

Distinctions Between Two Expectancies in the Prediction of Maladaptive Eating Behavior.

In this longitudinal study, the authors provide support for the validity of the claim that differences in the nature of the reinforcement that adolescent girls expect from eating contribute to the development of different forms of maladaptive eating. The learned expectancy that eating is pleasurable and rewarding predicted higher levels of social/celebratory overeating across the first year of middle school but did not predict higher levels of clinical binge eating. In contrast, the expectancy that eating helps one manage negative affect predicted higher levels of binge eating but not of social/celebratory overeating across the same time period (n = 394). The results also supported a reciprocal model in which binge eating predicted higher levels of the expectancy that eating will manage negative affect but not that eating is pleasurable and rewarding; conversely, social/celebratory overeating predicted higher levels of the expectancy that eating is pleasurable and rewarding but not that eating will manage negative affect.

A risk model for disordered eating in late elementary school boys.

The authors tested the following risk model for disordered eating in late elementary school-age boys: Pubertal status is associated with increases in negative urgency, that is, the tendency to act rashly when distressed; high levels of negative urgency then influence binge eating through psychosocial learning; and binge eating influences purging. A sample of 908 fifth-grade boys completed questionnaire measures of puberty, negative urgency, dieting/thinness and eating expectancies, and eating pathology. Eating disorder symptoms were present in these young boys: 10% reported binge eating and 4.2% reported purging through self-induced vomiting. Each hypothesis in the risk model was supported. Boys this young do in fact engage in the maladaptive behaviors of binge eating and purging; it is crucial to develop explanatory risk models for this group. To this end, it appears that characteristics of boys, including their pubertal status, personalities, and psychosocial learning, help identify boys at risk.

Experimental effect of positive urgency on negative outcomes from risk taking and on increased alcohol consumption.

The current pair of experimental studies sought to further validate the role of positive urgency (acting rashly when in an extreme positive emotional state) as a risk factor for impulsive and maladaptive behavior. Previous research has supported the use of emotion-based dispositions to rash action in predicting a wide range of maladaptive acts. However, that research was conducted in the field and relied on self-reported behavior, thus lacking tight experimental controls and direct observation of risky behaviors. In the 2 experimental studies described here, we found that among college students (1) positive urgency significantly predicted negative outcomes on a risk-taking task following a positive mood manipulation (n = 94), and (2) positive urgency significantly predicted increases in beer consumption following positive mood induction (n = 33). Positive urgency's role was above and beyond previously identified risk factors; these findings, combined with prior cross-sectional and longitudinal field studies, provide support for the role of positive urgency in rash action.

The acquired preparedness model of risk for bulimic symptom development.

The authors applied person-environment transaction theory to test the acquired preparedness model of eating disorder risk. The model holds that (a) middle-school girls high in the trait of ineffectiveness are differentially prepared to acquire high-risk expectancies for reinforcement from dieting or thinness; (b) those expectancies predict subsequent binge eating and purging; and (c) the influence of the disposition of ineffectiveness on binge eating and purging is mediated by dieting or thinness expectancies. In a three-wave longitudinal study of 394 middle-school girls, the authors found support for the model. Seventh-grade girls' scores on ineffectiveness predicted their subsequent endorsement of high-risk dieting or thinness expectancies, which in turn predicted subsequent increases in binge eating and purging. Statistical tests of mediation supported the hypothesis that the prospective relation between ineffectiveness and binge eating was mediated by dieting or thinness expectancies, as was the prospective relation between ineffectiveness and purging. This application of a basic science theory to eating disorder risk appears fruitful, and the findings suggest the importance of early interventions that address both disposition and learning.

The measurement of dispositions to rash action in children.

Among adolescents and adults, there appear to be at least four different personality traits that dispose individuals to rash or ill-advised action: sensation seeking, negative urgency, lack of planning, and lack of perseverance. The four are only moderately correlated and they appear to play different roles in dysfunction. It is important to determine whether the traits are present among preadolescents because of their possible influence on subsequent development. The authors developed assessments of the four traits for preadolescent children and found evidence supporting (a) the internal consistency of each trait measure, (b) the convergent and discriminant validity of the four measures using the multitrait, multimethod technique, and (c) the hypothesis that the different traits correlated with different dysfunctional behaviors as predicted by theory. Pending further validation efforts, it appears to be the case that researchers may be able to distinguish among different dispositions to rash action prior to adolescence.

Opalescent appearance of an IgG1 antibody at high concentrations and its relationship to noncovalent association.

PURPOSE: Therapeutic antibodies are often formulated at a high concentration where they may have an opalescent appearance. The aim of this study is to understand the origin of this opalescence, especially its relationship to noncovalent association and physical stability. METHODS: The turbidity and the association state of an IgG1 antibody were investigated as a function of concentration and temperature using static and dynamic light scattering, nephelometric turbidity, and analytical ultracentrifugation. RESULTS. The antibody had increasingly opalescent appearance in the concentration range 5-50 mg/ml. The opalescence was greater at refrigerated temperature but was readily reversible upon warming to room temperature. Turbidity measured at 25 degrees C was linear with concentration, as expected for Rayleigh scatter in the absence of association. In the concentration range 1-50 mg/ml, the weight average molecular weights were close to that expected for a monomer. Zimm plot analysis of the data yielded a negative second virial coefficient, indicative of attractive solute-solute interactions. The hydrodynamic diameter was independent of concentration and remained unchanged as a function of aging at room temperature. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that opalescent appearance is not due to self-association but is a simple consequence of Rayleigh scatter. Opalescent appearance did not result in physical instability.