Specifying the impulsivity of female inmates with borderline personality disorder

Impulsivity is regarded as a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD; M. C. Zanarini, J. G. Gunderson, & F. R. Frankenburg, 1989) despite lack of evidence from laboratory research (D. M. Dougherty, J. M Bjork, H. C. G. Huckabee, F. G. Moeller, & A. C. Swann, 1999). This study examined impulsivity in incarcerated women with BPD using a passive avoidance task (J. P. Newman & W. A. Schmitt, 1998) and the Impulsiveness-Monotony Avoidance-Detachment inventory (IMD; D. Schalling, 1978). As predicted, incarcerated women diagnosed with BPD committed more passive avoidance errors and reported more impulsivity on the IMD than controls. These findings identify disinhibition as a potentially important component of the impulsivity that characterizes BPD. Specifying the impulsive behavior identified with BPD may contribute to the effective assessment and management of the disorder.     

Utilization of emotion cues in male and female offenders with antisocial personality disorder: results from a lexical decision task

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) diagnoses have demonstrated good reliability and validity in male offenders. However, there is a paucity of research assessing utilization of emotion cues in ASPD individuals and the extent to which correlates of ASPD in males generalize to females. This investigation examined emotion utilization in incarcerated men and women with and without ASPD using a lexical decision task with emotional and neutral words. The performance of male offenders with ASPD was similar to that of male controls, whereas women with ASPD demonstrated greater emotional facilitation than female controls. Moreover, the number of violent crimes committed by female inmates with ASPD was related to emotion facilitation, suggesting a link between their sensitivity to emotion cues and antisocial behavior.     

Psychometric properties of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale in a clinical sample

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) in a clinical sample of 513 youth referred for mental health assessment at a university clinic. Internal consistency and factor analysis provided support for the factorial validity of the RCADS. Convergent and discriminant validity tests against both clinical interview and self-report criteria also suggested favorable properties of the RCADS. In comparative tests with traditional measures of anxiety and depression, the RCADS generally showed greater correspondence to specific diagnostic syndromes. Clinical cutoffs are reported for the purposes of future clinical and research applications.