Prenatal androgen exposure and sex-typical play behaviour: A meta-analysis of classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia studies.

Thousands of non-human mammal experiments have demonstrated that early androgen exposure exerts long-lasting effects on neurobehavioural sexual differentiation. In humans, females with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are exposed to unusually high concentrations of androgens prenatally, whereas prenatal concentrations of androgens in males with CAH are largely normal. The current meta-analysis included 20 independent samples and employed multi-level meta-analytic models. Consistently across all 7 male-typical and female-typical play outcomes, in the expected directions, the present study found significant and large average differences between control males and control females (gs = 0.83-2.78) as well as between females with CAH and control females (gs = 0.95-1.08), but differences between males with CAH and control males were mostly negligible and were non-significant for 6 of the 7 outcomes (gs = 0.04-0.27). These meta-analytic findings suggest that prenatal androgen exposure masculinises and defeminises play behaviour in humans. Broader implications in relation to sex chromosomes, brain development, oestrogens, socio-cognitive influences, other aspects of sex-related behavioural development, and gender nonconformity are discussed.

Development and evaluation of a Chinese short-form of the Sleep-related Behaviors Questionnaire in Hong Kong Chinese adults using item response theory.

Insomnia-related safety behaviors are behaviors that aim to mitigate the negative consequences of insomnia but inadvertently perpetuate insomnia. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a Chinese short-form of the sleep-related behavior questionnaire (SRBQ-SF), a self-report measure of insomnia-related safety behaviors, using item response theory. The Chinese version of the original SRBQ was completed by 536 Chinese-speaking adults with clinically significant insomnia. The automatic item selection procedure of the Mokken scaling analysis was used to develop and evaluate the SRBQ-SF. A 23-item SRBQ-SF consisting of a 14-item reduced engagement and avoidance subscale (SRBQ-REA) and a 9-item preoccupation with sleep subscale (SRBQ-PS) was derived. Classical test theory-based estimates showed that the SRBQ-REA and SRBQ-PS had good internal consistency and acceptable convergent and discriminant validities, and they were only weakly correlated with each other. We recommend the use of the SRBQ-REA and SRBQ-PS separately to assess two dimensions of safety behaviors in the study and treatment of insomnia in Chinese-speaking adults.

The effects of developmental trauma on theory of mind and its relationship to psychotic experiences: A behavioural study.

BACKGROUND: Developmental psychological trauma induces vulnerability to psychosis. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood. Impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM) have been observed in adult survivors of developmental trauma and individuals with psychosis. ToM is therefore a candidate mechanism underlying the association between developmental trauma and psychosis. METHODS: We used a computerised version of the Director task - where a participant is instructed by a confederate to move an object around a 4 × 4 grid, whilst taking account of whether these objects are visible to a confederate who instructs the participant - to investigate impairments in ToM in 209 participants (age: M = 37.8, SD=13.6; 56% female). Participants were divided into a) developmental trauma-positive (DT+) and control groups (DT-) based on their history of developmental trauma and b) then further into subclinical (S) and healthy groups (H) as based on psychotic experiences indexed by the CAPE-P15. After exclusion, the numbers in each group were: DT+H (47), DT+S (84), DT-H (54), DT-S (12). (Total: 197). RESULTS: Developmental trauma exposure was associated with psychotic experiences (OR: 7.89, p < .001), which remained significant after controlling for demographic and clinical confounds (adjusted R2 = 0.452, R2 change = 0.0184, p = .009). Participants with developmental trauma (F1, 194) = 5.46, p = .020, ηp2 = 0.027) and participants more prone to psychotic experiences (F1, 194) = 4.71, p = .031, ηp2 = 0.024) demonstrated significantly lower accuracy on the Director task relative to their respective control, after controlling for the effects of age. CONCLUSIONS: ToM deficits are associated with self-reported developmental trauma and psychotic experiences. Further work is needed to explore these relationships further and whether they represent generalised or specific effect effects on developmental trauma and psychopathological domains.