Are Borderline Personality Symptoms and Psychopathy Differentially Related to Drinking Motives of Former Jail Inmates?

This study assessed whether psychopathy and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms are differentially related to three drinking motives: coping, enhancement, and social. Participants were 170 inmates (74% male) initially held on felony charges in a suburban jail. The Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV; Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995) and Borderline Features scale of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) were administered at the outset of incarceration. In a follow-up interview 4 to 6 years postincarceration, participants completed the Drinking Motives Questionnaire (DMQ; Cooper, Russell, Skinner, & Windle, 1992) assessing drinking motives. Controlling for drinking frequency, when compared to Factor 1 psychopathy, BPD symptoms had a stronger positive relationship with coping and enhancement drinking motives. No difference was observed for social motives for drinking. Individuals high in BPD symptoms may benefit from therapy emphasizing adaptive coping mechanisms and alternative means of seeking positive emotional states.

The effects of self-control on cognitive resource allocation during sustained attention: a transcranial Doppler investigation.

Vigilance, or sustained attention, is a required ability in many operational professions. While past research has consistently indicated that vigilance performance declines over time, referred to as the vigilance decrement, the theoretical mechanisms underlying the decrement continue to be explored. In the current study, trait self-control was examined to determine how this individual differences measure may contribute to the theoretical explanation of vigilance decrement. Transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) was used as a measure of cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV), as previous research has indicated that CBFV may index attentional resource allocation during vigilance (e.g., Shaw et al. in Hum Factors Ergon Soc 50:1619-1623, 2009). Participants performed a demanding 12-min computer-based vigilance task. Prior to the task, a validated self-report measure was used to determine trait-level self-control, and subjective workload was measured after the task was completed. Participants were divided, based upon survey responses, as either low- or high-trait self-control. Performance results showed a significant decrement across participants, but no significant main effect or interaction relating to the self-control measure was observed. Results relating to the TCD measure showed a significant decline in CBFV in the low self-control group, but no CBFV decrement was observed in the high self-control group. The subjective workload results revealed a nonsignificant trend of the low self-control group becoming more frustrated after the task. These results suggest that there are differences in the resource allocation strategies between low and high self-control participants. How trait self-control can add to an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of sustained attention performance is discussed.

Indications of reduced prefrontal cortical function in chronically homeless adults.

This study investigated why some homeless individuals seem unable to transition towards self-reliance, following traditional supportive services. It was hypothesized that this may be due to some cognitive dysfunction. Chronically homeless adults were compared to controls on three tests of prefrontal competency: the Iowa Gambling Task, Word Fluency (FAS), and the Burglar's Story; they performed significantly worse than controls on all three tests. These results indicate a relationship between chronic homelessness and possible pre-frontal deficits. This may explain why some long-term homeless fail to learn from the consequences of unproductive behavior and to develop more constructive behaviors needed to attain stability.