Psychiatric patient and informant reports of patient behavior

Informant reports of psychiatric patient behavior are collected routinely during intake interviews and to monitor therapeutic interventions. We investigated agreement between informant and adult psychiatric patient reports of patient behaviors (N=110). Behaviors were about substance use, physical and mental health, employment, illegal behavior, and recreational and social activities. Informant agreement with patients regarding whether or not a particular behavior occurred recently and also behavior frequency ratings were moderate overall (M r=.47 for frequency) and highly variable (rs=-.09 to .80). No informant, patient, or relationship characteristics were found consistently to moderate agreement. Thus, informants can report very accurately about the presence and frequency of some, but not all, patient behaviors. Low patient-informant agreement may be due to informants having relatively less detailed knowledge of patient behavior over time or patients not reporting accurately about certain behaviors.     

Psychopathic traits and externalizing behaviors: a comparison of self- and informant reports in the statistical prediction of externalizing behaviors

It has long been assumed that features associated with psychopathy, such as a lack of insight and deceitfulness, may compromise the utility of self-report measures, particularly for understanding the relations between these traits and important outcomes (e.g., offending). Unfortunately, little research has explicitly examined the relations between self- and informant reports of psychopathy and their relations to these outcomes. The current study examined the incremental validity of self- and informant reports of psychopathic traits, assessed with 3 validated psychopathy measures, in the statistical prediction of externalizing behaviors (EBs). To reduce shared method variance, self- and informant reports of EBs (i.e., substance use, antisocial behavior, gambling, and intimate partner violence) were examined separately. Results indicate that both self- and informant reports of psychopathy are related to EBs and provide some degree of incremental validity, although self-reported psychopathy scores proved slightly more useful than other-reported psychopathy scores. These findings suggest that, in nonforensic settings, psychopathy data derived from both self- and other-reported psychopathy measures have utility in understanding the relations between psychopathic traits and EBs.     

Comparison of Parent Versus Child-Report of Child Impulsivity Traits and Prediction of Outcome Variables

Five personality traits that dispose individuals to rash or ill-advised action (i.e., sensation seeking, negative urgency, positive urgency, lack of planning, and lack of perseverance), can be reliably and validly assessed in children. This paper reports on the first test of parental reports of these traits. In a sample of 94 children (ages 7–13, mean age 10.6), the authors found the following. First, parental reports of the five traits in their children appeared to be reliable. Second, there was moderate convergent validity: parent and child reports of the same traits had a median correlation of r?=?.30. Third, there was adequate discriminant validity: within-parent reports on different traits had a median correlation of r?=?.11. Fourth, concurrent prediction of child behavior from parental reports generally was inconsistent with prior findings. Fifth, discrepancies between the two reporters did predict dysfunctional child behavior. There are advantages to securing both child self-report and parental report of personality dispositions to rash action, although there is limited evidence for the concurrent validity of parental reports.     

Inducing Knowledgeability From Niceness: Children Use Social Features for Making Epistemic Inferences

In many ways, evaluating informants based on their features is a problem of induction: Children rely on the assumption that observable informant characteristics (e.g., traits, behaviors, social categories) will predict unobservable characteristics (e.g., future behavior, knowledge states, intentions). Yet to make sensible inferences, children must recognize what informant features are relevant for what types of inferences. The current research investigated whether preschoolers use social features (e.g., niceness) for making epistemic inferences and, conversely, whether they use intellectual features (e.g., expertise) for making social inferences. In the study, 96 preschoolers (M_age = 4.96 years) were asked to attribute knowledge and behaviors to a mean informant, a nice informant, and a neutral informant. Between subjects, we varied which informant had expertise. We found that when attributing knowledge, children used both features: attributing more knowledge to nicer informants, but also attributing more knowledge to an informant when he had expertise. In contrast, when making social inferences, children relied primarily on social features.     

Testing Informant Discrepancies as Predictors of Early Adolescent Psychopathology: Why Difference Scores Cannot Tell You What You Want to Know and How Polynomial Regression May

Multiple informants commonly disagree when reporting child and family behavior. In many studies of informant discrepancies, researchers take the difference between two informants’ reports and seek to examine the link between this difference score and external constructs (e.g., child maladjustment). In this paper, we review two reasons why difference scores cannot serve as unambiguous predictors of outcomes. Further, we use polynomial regression analyses to both test the validity of difference scores and provide a more direct test of the hypothesis that discrepancies in parent and child reports predict child psychopathology. Data from 218 parent-adolescent dyads (M adolescent age?=?11.5 years, 51 % female; 49 % European American, 47 % African American) were used to predict adolescent-reported antisocial behavior and depression from parent and adolescent reports of parent-adolescent conflict, parental knowledge, parental acceptance, adolescent rule-breaking behavior, and adolescent pubertal development. Results demonstrate that analyses using difference scores do not provide valid tests of the utility of informant discrepancies in predicting adolescent psychosocial maladjustment. However, interaction terms in polynomial regression analyses provide evidence that informant discrepancies predict child psychopathology. Parent-adolescent informant discrepancies predict adolescent psychopathology but researchers should avoid using difference scores to measure informant discrepancies. Polynomial regression analyses provide more comprehensive and accurate tests of whether informant discrepancies predict child and adolescent psychopathology.     

Spatial Behavior of University Undergraduates in Double-Occupany Residence Rooms: An Inventory of Effects

The spatial behavior of 116 male and 190 female pairs of university under-graduates was examined in the context of their self-reported own and shared territories within double-occupany residence rooms. The variables were divided into a number of conceptual categories, R -squared calculated for the contribution of each category to own and shared territory estimates, and finally regressions for the entire set of variables were calculated for each gender on these estimates. The conceptual categories used were: personality; subjects' physical characteristics; distal or past environments; behavior in the room; sports, social, outdoor, and aesthetic behaviors; attitudes toward room and roommate; and physical characteristics of the room. The entire set of variables accounted for 53% of the variance in the own territory and 42% of the variance in public territory for the males, while the figures for the females were 46% and 39% respectively. Generally, the males' reported spatial behaviors were more influenced by "internal" variables, such as personality and attitudes, than were the females' spatial behaviors, which were more influenced by "external" variables, such as the physical characteristics of the room and the social situation.     

青少年的自我意识及其与社会适应行为的关系

运用问卷调查法对439名中学生进行调查,探讨青少年社会适应行为与自我意识之间的关系。结果发现:(1)青少年自我意识的总体发展水平比较好,年级差异显著,性别差异不显著。(2)青少年自我意识对其社会适应行为具有较好的预测性,能够解释良好适应行为13.50%~39.40%的变异,解释适应不良行为5.90%~14.90%的变异;(3)自觉性和品德评价对良好社会适应行为总体和学习适应的正向预测作用具有跨年级和跨性别的稳定性;(4)在不同年级样本中,焦虑感是神经症行为的稳定和强有力的正向预测因素,自制力是社会性不良行为的稳定和强有力的负向预测因素。在不同性别样本中,自制力是独立生活和经济活动的稳定正向预测因素。     

Informant reports: A cheap,fast, and easy method for personality assessment

Despite widespread agreement that multi-method assessments are optimal in personality research, the literature is dominated by a single method: self-reports. This pattern seems to be based, at least in part, on widely held preconceptions about the costs of non-self-report methods, such as informant methods. Researchers seem to believe that informant methods are: (a) time-consuming, (b) expensive, (c) ineffective (i.e., informants will not cooperate), and (d) particularly vulnerable to faking or invalid responses. This article evaluates the validity of these preconceptions in light of recent advances in Internet technology, and proposes some strategies for making informant methods more effective. Drawing on data from three separate studies, I demonstrate that, using these strategies, informant reports can be collected with minimal effort and few monetary costs. In addition, informants are generally very willing to cooperate (e.g., response rates of 76–95%) and provide valid data (in terms of strong consensus and self-other agreement). Informant reports represent a mostly untapped resource that researchers can use to improve the validity of personality assessments and to address new questions that cannot be examined with self-reports alone.     

Gender similarities and differences in children's social behavior: finding personality in contextualized patterns of adaptation

This research examined how a contextualist approach to personality can reveal social interactional patterns that are obscured by gender comparisons of overall behavior rates. For some behaviors (verbal aggression), girls and boys differed both in their responses to social events and in how often they encountered them, yet they did not differ in overall behavior rates. For other behaviors (prosocial), gender differences in overall rates were observed, yet girls and boys differed more in their social environments than in their responses to events. The results question the assumption that meaningful personality differences must be manifested in overall act trends and illustrate how gender differences in personality can be conceptualized as patterns of social adaptation that are complex and context specific.     

Diagnosis and Assessment of Depression and Suicidality Using the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-2.3)

The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-2.3) was studied in a sample of 265 adolescent inpatients to determine type and concurrent validity of depressive symptoms and depressive disorder diagnoses for different DISC-2.3 informants (parent, adolescent, both). The Children's Depression Rating Scale — Revised, Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS), Suicide Ideation Questionnaire — Junior, Spectrum of Suicide Behavior Scale, and clinical consensus diagnoses were used to assess concurrent validity. Results indicated that (1) parents, compared to adolescents, reported a higher prevalence of all depressive symptoms with the exception of weight change; (2) DISC-2.3 depressive and suicidality symptoms were related positively to independent validating criteria for all informant conditions, suggesting good concurrent validity; (3) the DISC-2.3 both informant condition correctly identified the most depressive disorders; and (4) the parent, but not the adolescent, DISC-2.3 Informant condition contributed to the prediction of clinical consensus diagnoses of depression after taking into account RADS scores.     

Personality, Self-Disclosure and Friendship Between Chinese University Roommates

The present study examined the relations among personality perceptions, self-disclosing behavior, and friendship strength between Chinese roommates. These variables are rarely measured together and, when jointly assessed, allow for the disentanglment of personality factors from the social behavior of self-disclosure, making it possible to assess the role of self-disclosure behavior in the nexus of personality perceptions relating to friendship. One hundred and thirty-one university students rated their own and their roommate's personality, their self-disclosing behavior, and the strength of their friendship six months after being assigned to room together. It was found that self-ratings on the personality dimension of application were related both to one's friendship ratings and one's self-disclosing behavior, suggesting that personality variation is responsible for some of the well-established (Collins and Miller, 1994) links between self-disclosure and friendship strength. After controlling for self-rated application, it was found that both the respondent's and the roommate's self-disclosing behavior contributed separately to increasing the respondent's friendship ratings, as has also been found in Western research. Surprisingly, respondent self-disclosure was unrelated to how respondents perceived their roommates. However, the perceived roommate qualities of helpfulness and intellect were associated with the respondent's friendship ratings, suggesting that other, unmeasured social behaviors are being exchanged between roommates to enhance their friendship. Future research should examine these other behavioral mediators of friendship, so that we can develop a behavioral topology for this important social relationship and link these behaviors to dimensions of interpersonal perception.     

Effects of Religiosity and Spirituality on Depressive Symptoms and Prosocial Behaviors

SUMMARY

Evidence demonstrates salubrious effects of religious participation on health-related outcomes. Results from studies relating its effects to psychosocial outcomes have been equivocal. However, many psychosocial outcomes have not been examined. The current study sought to address these limitations by testing the degree to which religious behaviors and subjective spirituality are associated with depressive symptoms and prosocial behaviors. Data from 68 older adults were used to test two linear regression models in which public religious behaviors, private religious behaviors, and subjective spirituality were used to predict depressive symptoms and prosocial behavior. This set of regressors accounted for significant amounts of variance in both outcomes, although a divergent pattern of prediction emerged. More public religious behaviors and fewer private religious behaviors were associated with lower levels of depressive affect, whereas higher reports of subjective spirituality were associated with increased prosocial behavior. The need to broaden the investigation of the effects of religiosity to include more specific predictors and an inclusion of psychosocial outcomes are both discussed.     

人格维度与行为抑制的相关研究

本研究旨在探讨人格特点与行为抑制之间的关系。680名被试完成了中国人人格量表(QZPS)和行为抑制量表(BIS),回归和相关分析的结果表明,对七种行为的抑制都与多个人格因素显著相关,相关系数在0.10-0.57之间。控制人格因素间的相关之后,进入每个预测行为抑制回归方程的人格因素分别为6-10个,能够解释17%-51%的变异。文中还对本研究的局限及进一步研究的方向进行了讨论。     

Identifying Personality Pathology Associated With Major Depressive Episodes: Incremental Validity of Informant Reports

Major limitations are associated with the use of a single source of information to assess personality pathology. The construct validity of standardized interviews and informant reports on personality pathology has been established relative to other measures of personality pathology, but it is also important to consider these measures in relation to other constructs that should be related to personality pathology. One example is major depression. In this study, we evaluated whether less common clinical methods of assessment for measuring the same personality pathology constructs, including semistructured interviews and informant reports, demonstrate unique validity, using major depressive episode (MDE) as the external criterion. This analysis focuses on a representative, community-based sample of 1,437 participants and informants. We conducted a hierarchical logistic regression analysis and determined the order of entering the predictor variables based on likelihood of being used in a clinical setting as well as empirical recommendations. Each step of our regression model significantly increased our ability to predict lifetime MDE, including self, interviewer, and informant reports of personality pathology. Overall, these findings indicate that multiple sources of personality assessment provide unique information about the relationship between maladaptive personality traits and a history of MDE. Thus, semistructured diagnostic interviews and informant reports can be used as a resource to improve the validity of personality assessments.     

Whose “Storm and Stress” Is It? Parent and Child Reports of Personality Development in the Transition to Early Adolescence

The present study investigated Big Five personality trait development in the transition to early adolescence (from the fifth to eighth grade). Personality traits were assessed in 2,761 (47% female) students over a 3‐year period of time. Youths’ self‐reports and parent ratings were used to test for cross‐informant agreement. Acquiescent responding and measurement invariance were established with latent variable modeling. Growth curve models revealed three main findings: (a) Normative mean‐level changes occurred for youths’ self‐report data and parent ratings with modest effects in both cases. (b) Agreeableness and Openness decreased for self‐reports and parent ratings, whereas data source differences were found for Conscientiousness (decreased for self‐reports and remained stable for parent ratings), Extraversion (increased for self‐reports and decreased for parent ratings), and Neuroticism (remained stable for self‐reports and decreased for parent ratings). (c) Girls showed a more mature personality overall (self‐reports and parent ratings revealed higher levels of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness) and became more extraverted in the middle of adolescence (self‐reports). Personality changes modestly during early adolescence whereby change does not occur in the direction of maturation, and substantial differences exist between parent ratings and self‐reports.     

Shared genes, shared experiences, and similarity of personality: data from 14,288 adult Finnish co-twins

Similarities for Extraversion (E) and Neuroticism (N) scale scores from the Eysenck Personality Inventory were evaluated in 7,144 adult twin pairs, drawn from the population-based Finnish Twin Cohort, as a function of the co-twins' genetic resemblance, gender, age, and the frequency of their social interaction with each other. To separate effects of shared genes from those of shared experience, we performed hierarchical multiple regressions of double-entry data matrices. Results establish the predictive significance of both genetic and experiential influences: Genetic effects remained significant when tested after the effects of social contact were first removed; conversely, for N scores, the effects of social contact remained significant when assessed after genetic influences were first removed. These findings establish genetic variance in major dimensions of adult personality but assign a significant role to common experience as well. The first finding constructively replicates reports by others; the second challenges the widespread assumption that shared experiences have a negligible impact on sibling similarity in adult personality.     

Sexual sadism and sadistic personality disorder in sexual homicide

Controversies exist about the diagnostic validity of sexual sadism and its relation to sadistic personality disorder in sex offenders. The aim of this study was to investigate which diagnostic, developmental, and criminal characteristics differentiate sexual sadistic from non-sadistic sexual homicide perpetrators. Psychiatric court reports on 166 men who had committed a sexual homicide were evaluated regarding psychiatric, sexual and criminal history. Sixty-one offenders (36.7%) with sexual sadism (SeSd) were compared with 105 (63.3%) offenders without this diagnosis (NSeSd). Besides the sexual sadistic symptoms, there were seven factors that discriminated best between the two groups (sexual masochism, sadistic personality disorder, isolation in childhood, multiple sexual homicide, previous rape, previous tendencies for similar behavior, and long duration of the homicidal act). Sexual sadism is connected with circumscribed other characteristics and has to be considered in risk assessment and treatment of sex offenders.     

ADHD Behaviors and Social Functioning in Preschool Children: The Moderating Role of Emotion Recognition

This study examined the moderating role of emotion recognition on the association between preschoolers’ ADHD behaviors and social functioning outcomes. Sixty preschoolers (48.3% female; M_age?=?3.94, SD_age?=?.56) were recruited from Head Start-affiliated classrooms. Teacher-rated ADHD behaviors and an objective measure of children’s emotion recognition were assessed at the beginning of the school year. Teacher ratings of social functioning outcomes were obtained approximately three months after the start of school. Hierarchical regressions examined the unique and interactive effects of ADHD behaviors and emotion recognition on preschoolers’ social functioning outcomes (i.e., oppositional behaviors, peer behavior problems, and social-emotional school readiness). The interaction between ADHD behaviors and emotion recognition predicted oppositional behaviors, peer behavior problems and social-emotional school readiness such that higher levels of emotion recognition appear to buffer the negative association between ADHD behaviors and adaptive social functioning. Preliminary considerations for interventions aimed at promoting preschoolers’ social functioning are discussed.