Taxonicity of anxiety sensitivity: an empirical test among youth

Taxometric coherent cut kinetic analyses were used to test the latent structure of anxiety sensitivity (AS) among 371 youth. Anxiety sensitivity was indexed by the 18-item Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI; Silverman et al., J. Clin. Child Psychol. (1991), 20, 162-168). Two sets of manifest indicators of AS were constructed using the CASI: (1) three item-parcel manifest indicators: disease concerns, unsteady concerns, and mental illness concerns; and (2) nine single-item indicators representing each of these three facets of AS. Results from standard and short-scale MAXCOV procedures, internal consistency tests, analyses of simulated Monte Carlo data, and MAMBAC external consistency tests indicated that the latent structure of anxiety sensitivity among youth was taxonic. Estimated base rate of the observed AS taxon ranged between 13.6 and 16.5%. The present findings are discussed in terms of theoretical implications for the study of AS and vulnerability for anxiety psychopathology.     

DSM-oriented scales and statistically based syndromes for ages 18 to 59: linking taxonomic paradigms to facilitate multitaxonomic approaches

We used behavioral and emotional problem items to construct (a) nosologically based Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) oriented scales from experts' ratings of the items' consistency with DSM-IV (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnostic categories, and (b) statistically based syndromes from factor analyses of adults' self-ratings and ratings of adults by people who knew them (N = 4,628). Quantified, operationally defined, and normed DSM-oriented scales and statistically based syndromes facilitate multitaxonomic approaches to the assessment of adult psychopathology. Psychometric properties and cross-informant correlations were similar for DSM-oriented scales and statistically derived syndromes. Statistical associations between phenotypically similar DSM-oriented scales and statistically based syndromes were moderate to strong. Multitaxonomic approaches can avoid reification of provisional taxa that may result from excessive reliance on a single taxonomic paradigm.     

Beyond heritability: neurotransmitter genes differentially modulate visuospatial attention and working memory

A cued, visuospatial attention task and a working memory task were administered to 89 healthy adults genotyped for a T-to-C polymorphism in CHRNA4, a nicotinic receptor subunit gene. Increasing gene dose of the C allele of the CHRNA4 gene (i.e., no C alleles, one C allele, two C alleles) was associated with increased reaction time (RT) benefits of valid attentional cuing and reduced RT costs of invalid cues, but was not associated with working memory performance. In a second experiment, 103 healthy persons were genotyped for a G-to-A polymorphism of the dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH) gene. Increasing gene dose of the G allele of the DBH gene was associated with increased working memory accuracy at a high memory load. However, there was no consistent association between the DBH gene and visuospatial attention. Thus, a double dissociation was observed, with visuospatial attention associated with CHRNA4 but not the DBH gene and, conversely, working memory associated with the DBH gene but not CHRNA4. The results show that normal allelic variations in single neurotransmitter genes modulate individual differences in processing components of cognitive functions in healthy individuals.     

Dimensionality of the Beck Youth Inventories With Child Psychiatric Outpatients

The Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Disruptive Behavior, and Self-Concept Inventories of the Beck Youth Inventories of Emotional and Social Impairment (J. S. Beck, A. S. Beck, & J. Jolly, 2001) were administered to 150 female and 150 male outpatients who were 7–12 years old and matched by sex as to whether they were diagnosed with anxiety, mood, adjustment, or attention-deficit and disruptive behavior disorders to determine whether each inventory represented distinct symptom dimensions. Horns parallel analyses (J. L. Horn, 1965) found that the Anxiety, Depression, and Disruptive Behavior Inventories were unidimensional, but that the Anger and Self-Concept Inventories were each composed of two underlying dimensions. Iterated principal-factor analyses indicated that the Anger Inventory represented Affective and Cognitive dimensions, whereas the Self-concept Inventory reflected Self-Esteem and Competency dimensions. However, the overall pattern of results was discussed as supporting the current practice of scoring each inventory as a summative scale for clinical assessment purposes.     

Factorial validity of the Conners' Parent Rating Scale-revised: short form with psychiatric outpatients

To assess the factorial validity of the 27-item Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised: Short Form (CPRS-R:S; Conners, 1997), 100 (50%) male and 100 (50%) female psychiatric outpatients between 5 and 16 years old were rated by a parent. A confirmatory factor analysis of the 18 item ratings from the CPRS-R:S Oppositional, Cognitive Problems, and Hyperactivity scales provided only tentative support for scoring these scales as Conners (1997) recommended. However, an exploratory principal-axis factor analysis with all 27 item ratings found 2 dimensions: 1 dimension was composed of the 6 items in the Oppositional scale, and other dimension contained the remaining 21 items. An attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Total Symptoms scale was constructed by summing the ratings for these 21 symptom ratings, and this scale was found to be as effective as the Hyperactivity scale was in discriminating between youth who were and were not eventually diagnosed with an ADHD. We discuss the results as providing an alternate way of scoring the CPRS-R:S to screen for an ADHD in child and adolescent psychiatric outpatients.     

Obsessive-compulsive tendencies may be associated with attenuated access to internal states: Evidence from a biofeedback-aided muscle tensing task

The present study was motivated by the hypothesis that inputs from internal states in obsessive-compulsive (OC) individuals are attenuated, which could be one source of the pervasive doubting and checking in OCD. Participants who were high or low in OC tendencies were asked to produce specific levels of muscle tension with and without biofeedback, and their accuracy in producing the required muscle tension levels was assessed. As predicted, high OC participants performed more poorly than low OC participants on this task when biofeedback was not available. When biofeedback was provided, the difference between the groups was eliminated, and withdrawing the monitor again reversed this effect. Finally, when given the opportunity, high OC participants were more likely than low OC participants to request biofeedback. These results suggest that doubt in OCD may be grounded in a real and general deficiency in accessing internal states.     

Salutary proximal processes and distal mood and anxiety vulnerability outcomes of mindfulness training: a pilot preventive intervention

The present study evaluated the effect of a brief mindfulness-based preventive intervention on (a) dispositional (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003) and state (SMS; Tanay & Bernstein, 2010) mindfulness; (b) putative proximal factors/processes engendered through the development of mindfulness, including increased decentering (EQ-D; Fresco et al., 2007) and reduced experiential avoidance (AAQ; Hayes et al., 2004); and (c) distal mood and anxiety vulnerability factors, including reduced depression-related dysfunctional attitudes, (DAS; de Graaf, Roelofs, & Huibers, 2009), anxiety sensitivity (ASI-3; Taylor et al., 2007), and negative affectivity (PANAS-NA; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) among a university-community sample in Israel. Fifty-three adult participants between the ages of 20 and 52 (M(age)=25.2 years, SD(age)=4.3 years; 65.4% women) were recruited from the Haifa University community. Nineteen participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition (M(age)=25.3 years, SD(age)=4.3 years; 66% women) and studied prospectively over the course of a four-session (21-day) mindfulness skills training intervention; and 34 participants were randomly assigned to a no-intervention (control) condition (M(age)=24.9 years, SD(age)=2.4years; 64.7% women) and studied prospectively. Findings demonstrate statistically robust and clinically significant relations between mindfulness and the theorized proximal and distal mood and anxiety vulnerability factors. Findings are discussed with respect to their theoretical implications for better understanding mindfulness-psychopathology vulnerability relations, clinical implications for larger-scale universal and selective transdiagnostic prevention efforts, and future directions for this area of research.     

Group heterogeneity and tolerance: The moderating role of conservation values

Does diversity promote tolerance? We propose that reactions to group heterogeneity depend on individual value priorities. In three studies we investigate how values moderate the effect of raising the salience of group heterogeneity (versus homogeneity) on tolerance. As hypothesized, the findings indicate that conservation values moderate the effects of the saliency of the group's heterogeneity. People high on conservation values were more tolerant when the group's homogeneity was made salient than when its heterogeneity was made salient. People low on conservation were either insensitive to information on the group's heterogeneity (Studies 1 and 2), or were more tolerant when the group's heterogeneity was made salient than when its homogeneity was made salient (Study 3). Values are also directly associated with tolerance: conservation values (as well as SDO and RWA in Study 3) were negatively associated whereas openness-to-change and self-transcendence values were positively associated with tolerance. These findings indicate the importance of integrating individual and contextual variables in theories of group processes.