Psychiatric Disorders in Clinical Genetics I: Addressing Family Histories of Psychiatric Illness

This is the first article of a two-part professional development series addressing genetic counseling for personal and family histories of psychiatric disorders. It is based on an Educational Breakout Session presented by the Psychiatric Special Interest Group of the National Society of Genetic Counselors at the 2006 Annual Education Conference. This article examines issues that arise in addressing family histories of psychiatric illness, while the second article in the series considers the generation and provision of individualized recurrence risks for psychiatric disorders. In this article we discuss the importance of managing uncertainty for affected individuals and their close family members who have been referred to genetics for a number of different indications. We then use four simulated cases to make recommendations about the scope and timing of discussions related to the psychiatric family history.     

Sensitization and habituation of motivated behavior in overweight and non-overweight children

The rate of habituation to food is inversely related to energy intake, and overweight children may habituate slower to food and consume more energy. This study compared patterns of sensitization, as defined by an initial increase in operant or motivated responding for food, and habituation, defined by gradual reduction in responding, for macaroni and cheese and pizza in overweight and non-overweight 8- to 12-year-old children. Non-overweight children habituated faster to both foods than overweight children (p = .03). All children recovered motivated responding for a new food (chocolate). Overweight children consumed more energy than non-overweight children (p = .0004). Children who showed a sensitization in responding consumed more food (p = .001), and sensitization moderated the effect of overweight on habituation, with slower habituation for overweight children who sensitized (p < .001). This study replicates previous data on overweight/non-overweight differences in habituation of food and energy intake, and provides new information that individual differences in sensitization and habituation of motivated responding to obtain food may be associated with a sustained motivation to eat, resulting in greater energy intake.     

Guarding against hostile thoughts: trait anger and the recruitment of cognitive control

Trait anger is a robust predictor of the angry and aggressive response to hostile situational input, but it is important to better understand the mechanisms underlying this dimension of personality. The present two studies (total N=106) examined the possibility that individuals low in trait anger systematically recruit cognitive control resources within hostile contexts. These resources would likely be useful in facilitating emotion regulation operations. In support of this cognitive control framework, Experiment 1 found that low (but not high) trait anger individuals exhibited superior response-switching abilities in a hostile stimulus context. Experiment 2 conceptually replicated this pattern using a different cognitive control measure related to flanker interference effects. The convergence of findings across studies provides one likely mechanism for the reduced levels of reactivity at low levels of trait anger. Findings are discussed in relation to broader theories of trait anger and emotion regulation.     

Prevalence and reporting of near-point binocular convergence and acuity vision deficits in potential research participants

Visual abilities at near-point distances of 200 self-reported normal vision college students were assessed. Results show that normal visual functioning with no deficits is the exception. The most common visual deficits observed involved binocular lateral posture and fusion convergence deficits. Binocular and monocular acuity deficits also had high prevalence rates, although not as prevalent as the binocular convergence deficits. In addition, 1,340 articles published in four major journals from the years 1997-2004 were examined to ascertain the extent to which authors report the visual capabilities of their participants. Reporting of research participant visual abilities by authors using visual stimuli in experiments appears to be lacking. The results are discussed in terms of the potential impact that visual deficits may have on results obtained in experiments in which visual stimuli are used and the importance of reporting the visual assessment tests and procedures used to assess the visual abilities of potential participants.     

Adolescent perceptions of overall family system functioning and parental behaviors

We used a systems perspective to examine relationships between adolescents’ perceptions of overall family system functioning and selected parental behaviors. Self-report questionnaire data from 160 ninth and tenth grade students were analyzed using MANCOVA and discriminant analysis. The results showed two parental behaviors, support and monitoring distinguished between types of overall family system functioning. Adolescents in balanced and moderately balanced overall family functioning reported greater parental support, while adolescents in balanced and extreme overall family functioning reported greater parental monitoring. We present the implications of our findings for parent education and assessment.     

Ego depletion by response exaggeration

Suppressing or inhibiting responses has a host of negative effects, including a temporary reduction in self-regulatory strength (ego depletion). Less attention has been given to response exaggeration, which should also deplete regulatory strength and therefore disrupt subsequent self-control. We tested the depletion hypothesis by having participants perform tests of cognitive fluency after exaggerating responses (or not) to a disgusting film clip. Response exaggeration produced increased emotional expression but did not increase subjective emotional experience. Moreover, exaggerating disgust reactions impaired subsequent performance on tests of cognitive fluency. The cognitive aftereffects of exaggeration were not attributable to emotional experience or to changes in sympathetic or parasympathetic arousal (as indicated by skin conductance and heart rate variability high frequency power, respectively). Poorer cognitive fluency after response exaggeration indicates a detrimental effect of purposeful self-regulation.     

Riding a wave of self-esteem: Perseverative tendencies as dispositional forces

Traits, defined in terms of dispositional forces, should be more consequential to the extent that the person favors old, activated behaviors to new ones. On the basis of this idea, the current studies measured individual differences in perseveration, defined in terms of tendencies toward response facilitation (i.e., RT speedup) when consecutive trials of choice reaction time tasks require repeated (versus switched) responses. Using global self-esteem as the trait measure of interest, we predicted and found that correlations between self-esteem and relevant outcome measures were particularly strong among individuals high in perseverative tendencies and particularly weak among individuals low in perseverative tendencies. The findings, involving three studies and 208 participants, provide a mechanism by which traits produce trait-relevant outcomes. Specifically, such trait-outcome relations are particular to those who display a tendency to repeat past responses in their cognitive transactions with the environment.     

Agreeableness and the self-regulation of negative affect: Findings involving the neuroticism/somatic distress relationship

In the temperament literature, agreeableness has been theoretically linked to effortful control. Further, research in this area has suggested that effortful control may play a broad role in moderating temperament-based tendencies toward negative affect. The present three studies, involving a total of 300 undergraduate participants, sought to extend this perspective to the adult literature by examining potential interactions between agreeableness and neuroticism in predicting reported somatic symptoms. Although such symptoms have been linked to neuroticism, they are not characteristic of the interpersonal concerns linked to agreeableness. Nevertheless, all studies found that agreeableness and neuroticism interacted to predict somatic symptoms such that high levels of agreeableness decoupled the relationship between neuroticism and somatic distress. These findings indicate a broad role for agreeableness in the self-regulation of neuroticism-linked distress.     

What's "up" with God? Vertical space as a representation of the divine

"God" and "Devil" are abstract concepts often linked to vertical metaphors (e.g., "glory to God in the highest," "the Devil lives down in hell"). It is unknown, however, whether these metaphors simply aid communication or implicate a deeper mode of concept representation. In 6 experiments, the authors examined the extent to which the vertical dimension is used in noncommunication contexts involving God and the Devil. Experiment 1 established that people have implicit associations between God-Devil and up-down. Experiment 2 revealed that people encode God-related concepts faster if presented in a high (vs. low) vertical position. Experiment 3 found that people's memory for the vertical location of God- and Devil-like images showed a metaphor-consistent bias (up for God; down for Devil). Experiments 4, 5a, and 5b revealed that people rated strangers as more likely to believe in God when their images appeared in a high versus low vertical position, and this effect was independent of inferences related to power and likability. These robust results reveal that vertical perceptions are invoked when people access divinity-related cognitions.