Trait aggression is associated with five-factor personality traits in males.

BACKGROUND: Although aggression is conceptualized as a dimensional construct with violent behavior representing the extreme end of a spectrum, studies on the involvement of personality traits in human aggression have typically only included data representing a restricted spectrum of aggressive behaviors. METHODS: In the current study, we therefore examine whether trait aggression is associated with five-factor model personality traits in an enriched sample of 259 men with a broad continuum of trait aggression, ranging from very low to very high including 39 incarcerated aggressive violent offenders. All participants completed the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ). The association between each of the five NEO PI-R personality traits and trait aggression (BPAQ) was investigated using five linear regression models, covarying for group status, age and educational level. RESULTS: Higher BPAQ scores were positively associated with Neuroticism and negatively associated with Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that those high in Neuroticism and low in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness are at higher risk of exhibiting aggressive behavior, underlining the relevance of these higher order personality traits in understanding aggressive behavior. We argue that studying individual personality differences should be offered a greater attention within violent and criminal behaviors.

Mindfulness is positively related to socioeconomic job status and income and independently predicts mental distress in a long-term perspective: Danish validation studies of the Five-Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire.

The Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) measures 5 factor-analytically derived mindfulness aspects (Observe, Describe, Non-Judgment, Non-Reactivity, and Acting with Awareness) and is commonly used as an indicator of mindfulness in population surveys and studies of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI). Outside MBI, FFMQ scores are hypothesized to reflect relatively stable human dispositions of importance to psychological health. However, the long-term test-retest reliability of FFMQ scores is virtually untested and it remains unknown whether FFMQ scores predict psychological health after controlling for standardized socioeconomic status classifications. First, we focused on psychometric validation of the FFMQ translated to Danish in a randomly invited healthy and nonmeditating adult community sample (N = 490). Confirmatory factor analyses primarily supported a four-factor construct excluding the Observe facet. The four-factor model showed adequate composite reliability, convergent validity and satisfactory-excellent internal consistency, Cronbach αs = .72-.91. Structural equation modeling revealed that FFMQ Total scores were positively related to income and socioeconomic status but independently predicted psychological distress and mental health scores, respectively, after controlling for age, gender, body mass index, socioeconomic job classification, stressful life events, and social desirability, ß = -.24-.29, ps < .001. Second, FFMQ scores showed adequate short-term (two weeks) test-retest reliability among 99 healthy university students, Spearman's ρs ≥ .82. Finally, all FFMQ mean scores showed satisfactory test-retest reliability across a long-term (six months) interval (N = 407), intraclass correlation coefficients ≥.74. We recommend the Danish FFMQ for further use. The Observe facet should be interpreted with caution. Remaining FFMQ facet scores comprise an internally consistent four-dimensional construct reflecting long-term-reliable human dispositions of independent significance for predicting mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-perceived personality characteristics in seasonal affective disorder and their implications for severity of depression.

The personality traits Neuroticism and Extraversion may be involved in the development of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). However, the impact of personality traits on SAD severity and whether such self-reported traits fluctuate with season is unknown. We investigated the association between Neuroticism, as acquired in a symptom-free phase and depression severity in individuals with SAD and seasonal changes in personality traits in individuals with SAD compared to healthy controls. Twenty-nine individuals diagnosed with SAD and thirty demographically matched controls completed the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised and the Major Depression Inventory twice: in summer when individuals with SAD were symptom-free, and in winter when they experienced SAD symptoms. In summer, the groups scored similarly on their personality traits, and the controls did not score any different in winter compared to summer. High scores on Neuroticism in summer was associated with more severe depressive symptoms in winter in SAD individuals. In winter, individuals with SAD scored higher on Neuroticism and lower on Extraversion, both compared to controls and to their own summer scores. Our results support that Neuroticism may represent a vulnerability marker related to SAD, and during a depressive episode Neuroticism and Extraversion may be sensitive markers of SAD pathology.

No evidence for a role of the serotonin 4 receptor in five-factor personality traits: A positron emission tomography brain study.

Serotonin (5-HT) brain architecture appears to be implicated in normal personality traits as supported by genetic associations and studies using molecular brain imaging. However, so far, no studies have addressed potential contributions to variation in normal personality traits from in vivo serotonin 4 receptor (5-HT4R) brain availability, which has recently become possible to image with Positron Emission Tomography (PET). This is particularly relevant since availability of 5-HT4R has been shown to adapt to synaptic levels of 5-HT and thus offers information about serotonergic tone in the healthy brain. In 69 healthy participants (18 females), the associations between personality traits assessed with the five-factor NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) and regional cerebral 5-HT4R binding in neocortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were investigated using linear regression models. The associations between each of the five personality traits and a latent variable construct of global 5-HT4R levels were also evaluated using latent variable structural equation models. We found no significant associations between the five NEO personality traits and regional 5-HT4R binding (all p-values > .17) or the latent construct of global 5-HT4R levels (all p-values > .37). Our findings indicate that NEO personality traits and 5-HT4R are not related in healthy participants. Under the assumption that global 5-HT4R levels index 5-HT tone, our data also suggest that 5-HT tone per se is not directly implicated in normal personality traits.

Season-independent cognitive deficits in seasonal affective disorder and their relation to depressive symptoms.

Although cognitive impairments are common in depressed individuals, it is unclear which aspects of cognition are affected and whether they represent state or trait features of depression. We here exploited a naturalistic model, namely the seasonal fluctuations in depressed status in individuals with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), to study depression-related cognition, longitudinally. Twenty-nine medication-free individuals diagnosed with winter-SAD and 30 demographically matched healthy controls with no seasonality symptoms completed the Letter-number Sequencing task (LNS), the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and the Simple Reaction Time (SRT) twice; in summer and in winter. Compared to controls, SAD individuals showed significant season-independent impairments in tasks measuring working memory (LNS), cognitive processing speed (SDMT) and motor speed (SRT). In SAD individuals, cognitive processing speed was significantly negatively associated with the seasonal change in SAD depressive symptoms. We present novel evidence that in SAD individuals, working memory, cognitive processing- and motor speed is not only impaired in the winter but also in the summer. This suggests that certain cognitive impairments are SAD traits. Furthermore, impairments in cognitive processing speed appear to be related to depressive symptoms in SAD. Reduced processing speed may thus constitute a SAD vulnerability trait marker.

Anterior cingulate serotonin 1B receptor binding is associated with emotional response inhibition.

Serotonin has a well-established role in emotional processing and is a key neurotransmitter in impulsive aggression, presumably by facilitating response inhibition and regulating subcortical reactivity to aversive stimuli. In this study 44 men, of whom 19 were violent offenders and 25 were non-offender controls, completed an emotional Go/NoGo task requiring inhibition of prepotent motor responses to emotional facial expressions. We also measured cerebral serotonin 1B receptor (5-HT1BR) binding with [11C]AZ10419369 positron emission tomography within regions of the frontal cortex. We hypothesized that 5-HT1BR would be positively associated with false alarms (failures to inhibit nogo responses) in the context of aversive (angry and fearful) facial expressions. Across groups, we found that frontal cortex 5-HT1BR binding was positively correlated with false alarms when angry faces were go stimuli and neutral faces were nogo stimuli (p = 0.05, corrected alpha = 0.0125), but not with false alarms for non-emotional stimuli (failures to inhibit geometric figures). A posthoc analysis revealed the strongest association in anterior cingulate cortex (p = 0.006). In summary, 5-HT1BRs in the anterior cingulate are involved in withholding a prepotent response in the context of angry faces. Our findings suggest that serotonin modulates response inhibition in the context of certain emotional stimuli.

Violent offenders respond to provocations with high amygdala and striatal reactivity.

The ability to successfully suppress impulses and angry affect is fundamental to control aggressive reactions following provocations. The aim of this study was to examine neural responses to provocations and aggression using a laboratory model of reactive aggression. We used a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging point-subtraction aggression paradigm in 44 men, of whom 18 were incarcerated violent offenders and 26 were control non-offenders. We measured brain activation following provocations (monetary subtractions), while the subjects had the possibility to behave aggressively or pursue monetary rewards. The violent offenders behaved more aggressively than controls (aggression frequency 150 vs 84, P = 0.03) and showed significantly higher brain reactivity to provocations within the amygdala and striatum, as well as reduced amygdala-prefrontal and striato-prefrontal connectivity. Amygdala reactivity to provocations was positively correlated with task-related behavior in the violent offenders. Across groups, striatal and prefrontal reactivity to provocations was positively associated with trait anger and trait aggression. These results suggest that violent individuals display abnormally high neural sensitivity to social provocations, a sensitivity related to aggressive behavior. These findings provide novel insight into the neural pathways that are sensitive to provocations, which is critical to more effectively shaped interventions that aim to reduce pathological aggressive behavior.

Serotonin 1B Receptor Binding Is Associated With Trait Anger and Level of Psychopathy in Violent Offenders.

BACKGROUND: The involvement of serotonin in aggression has traditionally been attributed to impaired prefrontal serotonergic inhibitory control of emotional reactions to provocations in antisocial individuals. However, it is unclear which specific serotonergic receptors are involved in the effects. A large body of preclinical research supports a specific role of serotonin 1B receptors (5-HT1BRs) in aggression and impulsivity, but this has never been evaluated in humans. METHODS: Nineteen incarcerated violent offenders and 24 healthy control nonoffenders were included and examined with positron emission tomography, using the radioligand [11C]AZ10419369 for quantification of cerebral 5-HT1BR binding in three regions of interest: the anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and striatum. RESULTS: Group status significantly moderated the association between striatal 5-HT1BRs and trait anger (difference in slopes, pcorrected = .04). In the violent offender group, striatal 5-HT1BR binding was positively correlated with self-reported trait anger (p = .0004), trait psychopathy (p = .008), and level of psychopathy according to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (p = .02). We found no group differences in 5-HT1BR binding. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate for the first time in humans a specific involvement of 5-HT1BR binding in anger and psychopathy. 5-HT1BRs putatively represent a molecular target for development of pharmacologic antiaggressive treatments.