Evaluating resilience in response to COVID-19 pandemic stressors among veteran mental health outpatients.

There is a public health need to understand mental health vulnerabilities to COVID-19 pandemic-related stressors and promote resilience among high-risk populations with preexisting psychiatric conditions. Recent cross-sectional studies suggest increases in mental health distress (e.g., depression and anxiety) during the pandemic. The present study expands upon these emerging findings using longitudinal latent modeling and hierarchical linear regressions. Consistent with the developmental psychopathology literature on resilience, we distinguished between promotive or risk (i.e., main effect), and protective or vulnerability (i.e., moderation) effects on mental health during the pandemic. At a large medical center, 398 veterans receiving outpatient mental health care provided prepandemic (Time 1) and during pandemic (Time 2) assessments of mental and physical health-related distress. Additional Time 2 questionnaires assessed pandemic-related stressors and positive behavioral adaptations in the summer of 2020. As expected, total stressor scores predicted longitudinal worsening of self-reported mental (ß = -.205) and physical health (ß = -.217). Positive behavioral adaptations enacted during the pandemic moderated and protected against stressor effects on mental health (ß = .160). In addition, the presence of substance use disorders moderated and conferred vulnerability to stressor effects on physical health (ß = -.158). Thus, higher COVID-19 pandemic stressor exposure may have exacerbated mental and physical health distress among veterans with common forms of psychopathology. Nevertheless, behavioral activation, purposeful maintenance of social connections, and focused treatment for substance misuse may be important intervention targets for reducing the longitudinal impact of pandemic stressors and enhancing resilience among people with mental illness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Population- and Community-Based Interventions to Prevent Suicide.

Background: Suicide is estimated to account for 1.4% of deaths worldwide, making it among the leading causes of premature death. Public health approaches to reduce suicide have the potential to reach individuals across the spectrum of suicide risk. Aims: To review the effectiveness of newer community-based or population-level suicide prevention strategies. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of literature published from January 2010 to November 2020 to evaluate the effectiveness of community- and population-level interventions. The US Center for Disease Control framework was used for grouping studies by strategy. Results: We included 56 publications that described 47 unique studies. Interventions that reduce access to lethal means, implement organizational policies and culture in police workplace settings, and involve community screening for depression may reduce suicide deaths. It is unclear if other interventions such as public awareness and education campaigns, crisis lines, and gatekeeper training prevent suicide. Evidence was inconsistent for community-based, multistrategy interventions. The most promising multistrategy intervention was the European Alliance Against Depression. Limitations: Most eligible studies were observational and many lacked concurrent control groups or adjustment for confounding variables. Conclusions: Community-based interventions that may reduce suicide deaths include reducing access to lethal means, implementing organizational policies in workplace settings, screening for depression, and the multistrategy European Alliance Against Depression Program. Evidence was unclear, inconsistent, or lacking regarding the impact of many other single- or multistrategy interventions on suicide deaths.

Les progrès dans la réalisation de la classification quantitative de la psychopathologie.

Shortcomings of approaches to classifying psychopathology based on expert consensus have given rise to contemporary efforts to classify psychopathology quantitatively. In this paper, we review progress in achieving a quantitative and empirical classification of psychopathology. A substantial empirical literature indicates that psychopathology is generally more dimensional than categorical. When the discreteness versus continuity of psychopathology is treated as a research question, as opposed to being decided as a matter of tradition, the evidence clearly supports the hypothesis of continuity. In addition, a related body of literature shows how psychopathology dimensions can be arranged in a hierarchy, ranging from very broad "spectrum level" dimensions, to specific and narrow clusters of symptoms. In this way, a quantitative approach solves the "problem of comorbidity" by explicitly modeling patterns of co-occurrence among signs and symptoms within a detailed and variegated hierarchy of dimensional concepts with direct clinical utility. Indeed, extensive evidence pertaining to the dimensional and hierarchical structure of psychopathology has led to the formation of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Consortium. This is a group of 70 investigators working together to study empirical classification of psychopathology. In this paper, we describe the aims and current foci of the HiTOP Consortium. These aims pertain to continued research on the empirical organization of psychopathology; the connection between personality and psychopathology; the utility of empirically based psychopathology constructs in both research and the clinic; and the development of novel and comprehensive models and corresponding assessment instruments for psychopathology constructs derived from an empirical approach.

Reprint of: Using a co-twin control design to evaluate alternative trait measures as indices of liability for substance use disorders.

To establish a trait-dispositional variable as an indicator of liability for the development of substance use disorders (SUDs), the trait must share heritable variance with SUDs and its association should not be primarily attributable to a direct impact of SUDs on characteristics that define the trait. The current work applied a co-twin control (CTC) modeling approach to data from two monozygotic twin samples to investigate the degree to which different measures of trait-impulsiveness represent indicants of vulnerability to SUDs (liability indicators), or outcomes or concomitants of SUDs (exposure indicators). The Five Factor Model (FFM) trait of conscientiousness was assessed via self-report, and a counterpart neurobehavioral trait of disinhibition was assessed both through self-report and using self-report and brain response measures combined. FFM trait data were available for one twin sample (N = 298); data for variants of P3 brain response were available along with a scale measure of disinhibition in the other (N = 258). CTC analyses revealed only an exposure effect of SUD symptomatology on FFM conscientiousness, indicating that this self-report assessed trait does not index liability for SUDs. By contrast, the disinhibition scale measure showed pronounced liability and weaker exposure-based associations with SUDs - and when quantified using scale scores together with P3 brain response, the exposure-based association was eliminated, such that this disinhibition measure related to SUD symptoms exclusively as a function of liability influences. These findings highlight a distinct advantage of quantifying traits in neurobehavioral terms - namely, the capacity to effectively index dispositional liability for psychopathological outcomes.

Multimodal indicators of risk for and consequences of substance use disorders: Executive functions and trait disconstraint assessed from preadolescence into early adulthood.

Risk for substance use disorders (SUDs) is hypothesized to include behavioral disinhibition, a genetically mediated inability to inhibit or regulate behavior given task demands or motivational drives. In the present study, we examined developmental trajectories of multiple indicators of behavioral disinhibition assessed from preadolescence into early adulthood among individuals with versus without alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use disorders. Participants were a population-based sample of 1512 male and female twins from the Minnesota Twin Family Study, prospectively assessed at ages 11, 14, 17, 20, and 24. Multimodal indicators of behavioral disinhibition included measures of executive function (visuospatial working memory accuracy, antisaccade task performance) and mother- and self-reported trait disconstraint. Multilevel modeling analyses that accounted for the repeated measures and nested nature of the twin family data were used to examine premorbid (age 11) indicators of executive function and trait disconstraint prior to the onset of any SUD symptoms, as well as changes from preadolescence into early adulthood (ages 11 to 24). Premorbid deviations evident at age 11 among individuals who subsequently developed SUDs included poorer performance on the visuospatial working memory test and higher levels of trait disconstraint. In addition, individuals with SUDs did not demonstrate developmentally normative improvements in inhibitory control (i.e., antisaccade performance did not improve) or in their levels of trait disconstraint. We conclude that these deviations in both neurocognitive and dispositional correlates of behavioral disinhibition precede onset of SUDs and may confer risk for their development, and in addition, problematic substance use may exacerbate preexisting deviations and interfere with normative developmental trajectories of executive function and trait disconstraint, with deleterious consequences for functioning.

A Model-Based Strategy for Interfacing Traits of the DSM-5 AMPD With Neurobiology.

The DSM-5 alternative model for personality disorders (AMPD) groups traits into domains based on factor analyses of self-report data. AMPD traits may need to be configured differently to interface with neurobiology. Focusing on biobehavioral risk for externalizing problems in 334 adults, the authors used structural modeling to evaluate how well alternative configurations of AMPD traits, operationalized using the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), interface with neural indicators of externalizing liability. A model specifying two correlated factors defined by traits within the PID-5 Disinhibition domain and brain-response indicators of externalizing proneness exhibited inadequate fit. However, a model using PID-5 traits with better coverage of biobehavioral externalizing liability evidenced good fit. Scores on this PID-5 trait factor, termed "PID-5 Externalizing Proneness," converged well with criterion measures of externalizing proneness and diverged from measures of threat sensitivity. Findings illustrate how AMPD traits can be configured for use in investigations of biobehavioral risk for psychopathology.

Neurobiology and the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology: progress toward ontogenetically informed and clinically useful nosology
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The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is an empirical structural model of psychological symptoms formulated to improve the reliability and validity of clinical assessment. Neurobiology can inform assessments of early risk and intervention strategies, and the HiTOP model has greater potential to interface with neurobiological measures than traditional categorical diagnoses given its enhanced reliability. However, one complication is that observed biological correlates of clinical symptoms can reflect various factors, ranging from dispositional risk to consequences of psychopathology. In this paper, we argue that the HiTOP model provides an optimized framework for conducting research on the biological correlates of psychopathology from an ontogenetic perspective that distinguishes among indicators of liability, current symptoms, and consequences of illness. Through this approach, neurobiological research can contribute more effectively to identifying individuals at high dispositional risk, indexing treatment-related gains, and monitoring the consequences of mental illness, consistent with the aims of the HiTOP framework.
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La taxonomía jerárquica de la psicopatología (TJP) es un modelo estructural empírico de síntomas psicológicos propuesto para mejorar la confiabilidad y la validez de la evaluación clínica. La neurobiología puede dar cuenta de las evaluaciones de riesgo precoz y estrategias de intervención, y el modelo de TJP tiene un mayor potencial para interactuar con las mediciones neurobiológicas que los diagnósticos categoriales tradicionales dada su mayor confiabilidad. Sin embargo, una complicación es que los correlatos biológicos observados de los síntomas clínicos pueden reflejar varios factores, que van desde el riesgo de la disposición hasta las consecuencias de la psicopatología. En este artículo, se argumenta que el modelo TJP proporciona un marco optimizado para realizar investigaciones sobre los correlatos biológicos de la psicopatología desde una perspectiva ontogenética que distingue entre indicadores de responsabilidad, síntomas actuales y consecuencias de la enfermedad. A través de este enfoque, la investigación neurobiológica puede contribuir de manera más efectiva con la identificación de individuos con un alto riesgo de disposición, el registro de los beneficios del tratamiento y el monitoreo de las consecuencias de la enfermedad mental, de acuerdo con los objetivos del marco de referencia de la TJP.

La taxonomie hiérarchique de la psychopathologie (HiTOP, Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology) est un modèle empirique et structuré de symptômes psychologiques visant à améliorer la fiabilité et la validité de l'évaluation clinique. L'évaluation sur le risque précoce et les stratégies thérapeutiques peuvent bénéficier des apports de la neurobiologie ; le modèle HiTOP interagit mieux avec les mesures neurobiologiques que les diagnostics catégoriels classiques, en raison de sa plus grande fiabilité. Néanmoins, le fait que les corrélats biologiques observés des symptômes cliniques peuvent refléter différents facteurs qui vont du risque lié à la prédisposition aux conséquences de la pathologie, complique les choses. Dans cet article, nous soutenons que le cadre du modèle HiTOP est optimal pour la recherche sur les corrélats biologiques de la psychopathologie d'un point de vue ontogénétique qui distingue les indicateurs de responsabilité, les symptômes actuels et les conséquences de la maladie. Par cette approche, la recherche neurobiologique permet de mieux identifier les personnes à risque de prédisposition élevé, de mieux répertorier les bénéfices liés au traitement et de surveiller les conséquences de la maladie mentale, selon les objectifs du cadre de l'HiTOP.

Using a co-twin control design to evaluate alternative trait measures as indices of liability for substance use disorders.

To establish a trait-dispositional variable as an indicator of liability for the development of substance use disorders (SUDs), the trait must share heritable variance with SUDs and its association should not be primarily attributable to a direct impact of SUDs on characteristics that define the trait. The current work applied a co-twin control (CTC) modeling approach to data from two monozygotic twin samples to investigate the degree to which different measures of trait-impulsiveness represent indicants of vulnerability to SUDs (liability indicators), or outcomes or concomitants of SUDs (exposure indicators). The Five Factor Model (FFM) trait of conscientiousness was assessed via self-report, and a counterpart neurobehavioral trait of disinhibition was assessed both through self-report and using self-report and brain response measures combined. FFM trait data were available for one twin sample (N = 298); data for variants of P3 brain response were available along with a scale measure of disinhibition in the other (N = 258). CTC analyses revealed only an exposure effect of SUD symptomatology on FFM conscientiousness, indicating that this self-report assessed trait does not index liability for SUDs. By contrast, the disinhibition scale measure showed pronounced liability and weaker exposure-based associations with SUDs - and when quantified using scale scores together with P3 brain response, the exposure-based association was eliminated, such that this disinhibition measure related to SUD symptoms exclusively as a function of liability influences. These findings highlight a distinct advantage of quantifying traits in neurobehavioral terms - namely, the capacity to effectively index dispositional liability for psychopathological outcomes.

Blunted Reward Sensitivity and Trait Disinhibition Interact to Predict Substance Use Problems.

Reward deficit models of addiction posit weaknesses in reward sensitivity to be promotive of substance dependence, while the externalizing spectrum model views substance problems as arising in large part from a general disinhibitory liability. The current study sought to integrate these perspectives by testing for separate and interactive associations of disinhibition and reward dysfunction with interview-assessed substance use disorders (SUDs). Community and college adults (N = 199) completed a scale measure of trait disinhibition and performed a gambling-feedback task yielding a neural index of reward sensitivity, the 'Reward Positivity' (RewP). Disinhibition and blunted RewP independently predicted SUDs, and also operated synergistically, such that participants - in particular, men - with high levels of disinhibition together with blunted RewP exhibited especially severe substance problems. Though limited by its cross-sectional design, this work provides new information about the interplay of disinhibition, reward processing, and gender in SUDs and suggests important directions for future research.

Stress and Coping in Extreme Environments: Implications for a Mars Mission

Introduction: There are very few studies of all-women teams performing in highly challenging isolated, confined, and extreme environments. Objective: To evaluate individual stressors, coping methods, and team functioning over an extended highly challenging trek. Methods: Subjects in this study were six British military officers who successfully traversed the Antarctic continent on skis over a 61-day 1700 km trek. The measures administered and their timing were as follows: Pre-expedition - Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire-Brief Form (MPQ-BF); Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM); Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ); Expedition - weekly rating form (WRF) assessing stress, coping, and team decision making; Post-expedition - debriefing interview and PVQ. Results: The group had high scores on personality scales indicating traits of Achievement, Social Closeness, Absorption (imagination), and Boldness, although individual differences were evident. Subjects gave high ratings to PVQ Hedonism (pleasure), Stimulation, and Self-direction values; the Tradition value was rated low. Subjects reported primarily positive experiences on the ice, and used both cognitive and behavioral coping methods to deal with stress. A salient issue was resolving individual goals among team members vs. team goals in the pace and distance covered each day. Other themes related to the importance of honesty in communication for team success, dealing with friction between two dominant individuals, and proving oneself through the physical challenge. Discussion: The implications of these findings for a Mars mission include the importance of enhancing the effectiveness of both pre-flight training and the countermeasures developed for use during flight to deal with interpersonal and work performance stressors. The effective use of ground-based analogs such as expedition teams operating in challenging and extreme environments is discussed.

Introducción: Existen muy pocos estudios sobre el desempeño de equipos exclusivamente femeninos en entornos muy hostiles, aislados, confinados o extremos. Objetivo: Evaluar los factores estresantes individuales, los métodos de afrontamiento y el funcionamiento del equipo durante una caminata prolongada y altamente desafiante. Métodos: Los sujetos del presente estudio fueron seis oficiales militares británicas que atravesaron exitosamente el continente antártico en un fatigoso recorrido en esquís de 1 700 km y 61 días. Las mediciones administradas y su duración fueron las siguientes: Pre-expedición - Cuestionario multidimensional de personalidad - formulario breve (MPQ-BF); Medida psicopática triárquica (TriPM); Cuestionario de valores (PVQ); Expedición - formulario de evaluación semanal (WRF), que evalúa el estrés, el enfrentamiento y la toma de decisiones colectivas; Post-expedición - entrevista sobre incidentes y PVQ. Resultados: El grupo obtuvo altas calificaciones en las escalas de personalidad relacionadas con los siguientes rasgos: Logros, Cercanía Social, Abstracción (imaginación) e Intrepidez, aunque con evidentes diferencias individuales. Los sujetos otorgaron altas calificaciones a los valores PVQ de Hedonismo (placer), Estimulación y Autodirección, mientras que el valor Tradición obtuvo una baja calificación. Los sujetos reportaron sobre todo experiencias positivas en el hielo, y aplicaron métodos de enfrentamiento tanto cognitivos como conductuales para manejar el estrés. Un problema recurrente fue la conciliación entre los objetivos individuales y los colectivos en cuanto a la velocidad de avance y la distancia que debían cubrir cada día. Otros temas fueron la importancia de la honestidad en la comunicación para lograr éxitos colectivos, el manejo de las fricciones entre dos individuos dominantes, y el probarse a uno mismo mediante el enfrentamiento a retos físicos. Discusión: Las implicaciones de estos resultados para una misión a Marte incluyen la importancia de elevar la efectividad tanto del entrenamiento anterior al vuelo como de las contramedidas elaboradas para su aplicación durante el mismo, con vistas a manejar los factores estresantes en el trabajo y las relaciones interpersonales. Se analiza el uso efectivo de condiciones análogas en tierra, como pueden ser las expediciones que se desenvuelven en entornos hostiles y extremos.

Toward a neurobehavioral trait conceptualization of depression proneness.

The etiology of major depressive disorder is heterogeneous, and differing pathways leading to the development of depression are proposed to account for alternative variants of depressive illness and their distinct comorbidity patterns. The present study was undertaken as a step toward developing a model for conceptualizing and quantifying dispositional proneness to depression, marked by reduced neural sensitivity to rewarding events and more persistent occurrence of depressive symptomatology. Using data for college and community adult participants (N = 201), we sought to quantify variations in depression proneness by combining symptom indicators of persistent depressive conditions (dysthymic disorder, depressive personality) with a brain potential response that has been shown to index sensitivity to pleasurable events-the reward positivity (RewP; Proudfit, 2015). We first extended prior work on the RewP and depression by showing that the magnitude of RewP covaried negatively with symptoms of persistent depressive conditions (dysthymia, depressive personality) but not with current levels of depression. Persistent depressive symptoms and the RewP were then combined to form a composite neuroclinical index of depression proneness. Compared to persistent depressive symptoms alone, this composite dimensional index showed improved specificity of relations with diagnostic criterion measures, that is, similar-level associations with other indicators of depression proneness but significantly lower associations with fear disorder symptomatology. These findings provide evidence that a dimension of depression proneness can be quantified effectively by combining psychological indicators of persistent depression with a neurophysiological index of a core depression-related process (i.e., reward sensitivity).

Incorporating neurophysiological measures into clinical assessments: Fundamental challenges and a strategy for addressing them.

Recent scientific initiatives have called for increased use of neurobiological variables in clinical and other applied assessments. However, the task of incorporating neural measures into psychological assessments entails significant methodological challenges that have not been effectively addressed to date. As a result, neurophysiological measures remain underutilized in clinical and applied assessments, and formal procedures for integrating such measures with report-based measures are lacking. In this article, we discuss major methodological issues that have impeded progress in this direction, and propose a systematic research strategy for integrating neurophysiological measures into psychological assessment protocols. The strategy we propose is an iterative psychoneurometric approach that provides a means to establish multimethod (MM) measurement models for core biobehavioral traits that influence functioning across diverse areas of life. We provide a detailed illustration of a MM model for one such trait, inhibitory control (inhibition-disinhibition), and highlight work being done to develop counterpart models for other biobehavioral traits (i.e., threat sensitivity, reward sensitivity, affiliative capacity). We discuss how these measurement models can be refined and extended through use of already existing data sets, and outline steps that can be taken to establish norms for MM assessments and optimize the feasibility of their use in everyday practice. We believe this model-oriented strategy can provide a viable pathway toward effective use of neurophysiological measures in routine clinical assessments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

An Examination of Triarchic Psychopathy Constructs in Female Offenders.

This study sought to expand scientific knowledge on psychopathic personality traits in female offenders by evaluating the relationship between MMPI-2-RF triarchic scales and self-reported external variables in a sample of 205 female offenders. Results indicated that boldness was inversely related to internalizing dysfunction, including suicidal behavior, psychosis, youth conduct problems, problems stemming from alcohol use, and a history of outpatient mental health treatment. Meanness was positively related to internalizing dysfunction as well as youth conduct problems, anger, prison disciplinary reports, and psychosis. Disinhibition was associated with a history of abuse in childhood, suicidal behavior, internalizing dysfunction, problems associated with alcohol and drug use, family history of mental illness, prison disciplinary reports for violence, number of previous criminal charges, and anger. Consistent with views of psychopathy as a configural condition, interactive effects of boldness with disinhibition and meanness were observed for multiple key external variables (e.g., conduct problems, substance use, nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior). This study provides further evidence for the triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy in female offenders and lends additional support for the validity of MMPI-2-RF triarchic psychopathy scales.

Individual Attributes, Values, and Goals of an All-Military Women Antarctic Expedition.

BACKGROUND: While participation of women in the military has increased, research on performance of female teams engaged in arduous physical activity in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments remains sparse.METHODS: A team of six British military women completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire-Brief Form, Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, and Personal Values Questionnaire (PVQ) prior to embarking on an expedition that traversed the Antarctic continent. Questionnaires were completed weekly on the ice; repeat of the PVQ and individual semistructured debriefing interviews were carried out within 9 d post-expedition.RESULTS: Personality findings indicated a generally well-adjusted group with notable individual differences in personality and personal values. Positive affect and camaraderie among teammates was evident throughout, although pace vs. distance in the strategy of the daily trek was a continuing point of tension. Honesty in communication was viewed as key to team effectiveness. A significant post-expedition decline in the tradition value (Pre M = -0.55, SD = 0.99; Post M = -0.82, SD = 1.12) and an increase in the conformity value (Pre M = -0.26, SD = 0.46; Post M = 0.18, SD = 0.27) was found.DISCUSSION: Congruence in personal and team goals among group members engaged in highly challenging activities is crucial for optimal team performance. Presence of two highly dominant individuals has a negative effect on team dynamics. Application of study findings to space exploration is considered.Blackadder-Weinstein J, Leon GR, Norris RC, Venables NC, Smith M. Individual attributes, values, and goals of an all-military women Antarctic expedition. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(1):18-25.

Progress in achieving quantitative classification of psychopathology.

Shortcomings of approaches to classifying psychopathology based on expert consensus have given rise to contemporary efforts to classify psychopathology quantitatively. In this paper, we review progress in achieving a quantitative and empirical classification of psychopathology. A substantial empirical literature indicates that psychopathology is generally more dimensional than categorical. When the discreteness versus continuity of psychopathology is treated as a research question, as opposed to being decided as a matter of tradition, the evidence clearly supports the hypothesis of continuity. In addition, a related body of literature shows how psychopathology dimensions can be arranged in a hierarchy, ranging from very broad "spectrum level" dimensions, to specific and narrow clusters of symptoms. In this way, a quantitative approach solves the "problem of comorbidity" by explicitly modeling patterns of co-occurrence among signs and symptoms within a detailed and variegated hierarchy of dimensional concepts with direct clinical utility. Indeed, extensive evidence pertaining to the dimensional and hierarchical structure of psychopathology has led to the formation of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Consortium. This is a group of 70 investigators working together to study empirical classification of psychopathology. In this paper, we describe the aims and current foci of the HiTOP Consortium. These aims pertain to continued research on the empirical organization of psychopathology; the connection between personality and psychopathology; the utility of empirically based psychopathology constructs in both research and the clinic; and the development of novel and comprehensive models and corresponding assessment instruments for psychopathology constructs derived from an empirical approach.

Integrating Criminological and Mental Health Perspectives on Low Self-Control: A Multi-Domain Analysis.

PURPOSE: Criminological theories of crime, delinquency, and deviancy emphasize the causal role of low self-control whereas models of psychopathology posit a general trait liability, "disinhibition", contributing to persistent antisocial behavior and substance use. The aim of the current work was to link these compatible perspectives on deviancy through reference to a biobehavioral conceptualization of disinhibition. METHODS: We examined how the Grasmick et al. (1993) self-control scale, relates to (a) trait disinhibition as indexed by self-report scales, performance on inhibitory-control tasks, and brain reactivity to cognitive stimuli, and (b) a cross-domain index combining measures from these three domains. RESULTS: As expected, variation in self-control was robustly associated with antisocial deviance, substance use problems, and measures of disinhibition across measurement domains. Further, a factor analytic model provided compelling evidence that the Grasmick et al. scale operates as a robust indicator within a biobehavioral conceptualization of disinhibition. CONCLUSIONS: Findings confirm a strong link between self-control and trait disinhibition, and support the view that deficits in self-control have a prominent biobehavioral basis. Research in the areas of criminology and psychopathology can mutually benefit from a focus on influences contributing to variations in self-control, conceptualized as trait disinhibition.

Brain Responses at Encoding Predict Limited Verbal Memory Retrieval by Persons with Schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Special attention has been given to verbal memory deficits in schizophrenia because they are apparent in healthy biological relatives of affected individuals, indicating a link to genetic risk for the disorder. Despite a growing consensus that encoding abnormalities contribute to poor verbal memory in the disorder, few studies have directly examined how neural responses during encoding contribute to later memory performance. METHOD: We evaluated event-related potentials (ERPs) during encoding of verbal material by patients with schizophrenia, healthy first-degree biological relatives of patients, and healthy controls. The extent to which N1, N400, and anterior and parietal Late Positive Components (LPCs) explained encoding accuracy and later memory of material was investigated. RESULTS: Encoding accuracy was associated with asymmetry in anterior LPCs toward right frontal brain regions and was most evident in relatives. N1 was abnormal at encoding in schizophrenia and differentially accounted for later memory performance. In controls better recall of verbal material was predicted by a larger early occipital (N1) encoding response; however, in patients with schizophrenia smaller N1 encoding responses were related to better recall. Interestingly, better recognition of verbal material across groups was also predicted by smaller N1 amplitudes during encoding of word stimuli. CONCLUSION: Separable patterns of electrophysiological response during encoding appear to differentially support recall and recognition of material from memory. Similar patterns of electrophysiological response across patient and relative groups suggest that those who carry genetic liability for schizophrenia share deviations in the neural activity related to encoding of material into episodic memory.