Borderline Personality Traits Are Not Correlated With Brain Structure in Two Large Samples.

BACKGROUND: Borderline personality disorder is associated with severe psychiatric presentations and has been linked to variability in brain structure. Dimensional models of borderline personality traits (BPTs) have become influential; however, associations between BPTs and brain structure remain poorly understood. METHODS: We tested whether BPTs are associated with regional cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volumes (n = 152 brain structure metrics) in data from the Duke Neurogenetics Study (n = 1299) and Human Connectome Project (n = 1099). Positive control analyses tested whether BPTs are associated with related behaviors (e.g., suicidal thoughts and behaviors, psychiatric diagnoses) and experiences (e.g., adverse childhood experiences). RESULTS: While BPTs were robustly associated with all positive control measures, they were not significantly associated with any brain structure metrics in the Duke Neurogenetics Study or Human Connectome Project, or in a meta-analysis of both samples. The strongest findings from the meta-analysis showed a positive association between BPTs and volumes of the left ventral diencephalon and thalamus (p values < .005 uncorrected, p values > .1 false discovery rate-corrected). Contrasting high and low BPT decile groups (n = 552) revealed no false discovery rate-significant associations with brain structure. CONCLUSIONS: We find replicable evidence that BPTs are not associated with brain structure despite being correlated with independent behavioral measures. Prior reports linking brain morphology to borderline personality disorder may be driven by factors other than traits (e.g., severe presentations, comorbid conditions, severe childhood adversity, or medication) or reflect false positives. The etiology or consequences of BPTs may not be attributable to brain structure measured via magnetic resonance imaging. Future studies of BPTs will require much larger sample sizes to detect these very small effects.

Factors associated with depression and anxiety symptoms among children seeking treatment for obesity: A social-ecological approach.

BACKGROUND: Children with overweight/obesity are more likely to exhibit symptoms of depression and anxiety than are their peers without overweight/obesity; however, the rates and correlates of depression and anxiety symptoms among children seeking obesity treatment remain unclear. OBJECTIVES: Examine the prevalence and associated factors of depression and anxiety symptoms among treatment-seeking children with overweight/obesity. METHODS: Children 7 to 11 years old (N = 241) and their parents completed assessments before beginning family-based behavioral weight-loss treatment. Disorder-specific self-report questionnaires assessed child depression and anxiety. The social-ecological model served as a framework for examining factors associated with depression and anxiety symptoms. RESULTS: Among our sample, 39.8% (96/241) met clinical cutoffs for depression and/or anxiety symptomatology. Specifically, of these 96, 48 met criteria for both depression and anxiety, 24 for depression only, and 24 for anxiety only. Child eating disorder pathology, parents' use of psychological control (ie, a parenting style characterized by emotional manipulation), and lower child subjective social status were significantly associated with greater child depression symptomatology. Child eating disorder pathology and parent psychological control were significantly associated with greater child anxiety symptomatology. CONCLUSION: Nearly 40% of children exhibited psychopathology symptoms, and a variety of correlates were found. Thus, pediatric weight-loss providers may consider screening for and addressing mental health concerns (and associated factors) prior to and during treatment.

Child and parent reports of children's depressive symptoms in relation to children's weight loss response in family-based obesity treatment.

BACKGROUND: Studies of the association between children's depressive symptoms and obesity treatment response show mixed results. Different measurement may contribute to the inconsistent findings, as children's depressive symptoms are often based on parent-report about their child rather than child self-report. OBJECTIVES: We assessed both child- and parent-report of child depressive symptoms as predictors of children's obesity treatment response. METHODS: Children with overweight/obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 85th percentile; N = 181) and their parents reported on children's depressive symptoms prior to family-based behavioral weight loss treatment. RESULTS: Child percent overweight reduction from baseline to post-treatment was not predicted by child self-reported depressive symptoms or parent-report of child symptoms (P > 0.80), but was significantly predicted by the interaction between child self-report and parent-report on child (ß = 0.14, P = 0.05). In analyses using clinical cutoffs, amongst children with high self-reported symptoms, those whose parents reported low child depressive symptoms had greater reduction in percent overweight (t = 2.67, P = 0.008), whereas amongst children with low self-reported symptoms, parent ratings were not associated with treatment outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Including both child self-report and parent-report of child depressive symptoms may inform obesity care. Research is needed to examine differences amongst child and parent depressive symptom reports and strategies to address symptoms and optimize pediatric obesity treatment.

Patterns of Eating Disorder Pathology are Associated with Weight Change in Family-Based Behavioral Obesity Treatment.

OBJECTIVE: Children with overweight or obesity have elevated eating disorder (ED) pathology, which may increase their risk for clinical EDs. The current study identified patterns of ED pathology in children with overweight or obesity entering family-based behavioral weight loss treatment (FBT) and examined whether children with distinct patterns differed in their ED pathology and BMI z score (zBMI) change across FBT. METHODS: Before participating in a 16-session FBT, children (N = 241) completed surveys or interviews assessing ED pathology (emotional eating, shape/weight/eating concerns, restraint, and loss of control [LOC]). Shape and weight concerns (SWC) and LOC were also assessed post treatment. Child height and weight were measured at baseline and post treatment. Latent class analysis identified patterns of ED pathology. Repeated-measures ANOVA examined changes in zBMI and ED pathology. RESULTS: Four patterns of ED pathology were identified: low ED pathology, SWC, only loss of control, and high ED pathology. SWC decreased across treatment, with the highest decreases in patterns characterized by high SWC. All groups experienced significant decreases in zBMI; however, children with the highest ED pathology did not achieve clinically significant weight loss. CONCLUSIONS: ED pathology decreased after FBT, decreasing ED risk. While all children achieved zBMI reductions, further research is needed to enhance outcomes for children with high ED pathology.