Distinguishing types of social withdrawal in children: Internalizing and externalizing outcomes of conflicted shyness versus social disinterest across childhood

Little research has examined the effect of subtypes of social withdrawal on the development of psychopathology across childhood.Parents of 493 children (220 females) completed a measure of their child’s conflicted shyness and social disinterest as well as the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) when their child was age 3, and again at age 6. When children were age 9, parents completed the CBCL.From 3 to 6, conflicted shyness predicted increases in anxiety symptoms in boys and girls, and predicted depressive symptoms in boys. From 6 to 9, social disinterest predicted increases in anxiety symptoms in girls and boys, and predicted increases in depressive symptoms in boys. In addition, in boys, conflicted shyness at age 6 predicted increases in externalizing symptoms at age 9.Conflicted shyness appears to be particularly problematic in early to middle childhood, while social disinterest appears to be more maladaptive in later childhood, with some differences by gender.     

Mapping the interplay among cognitive biases,emotion regulation,and depressive symptoms

Cognitive biases and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties have been instrumental in understanding hallmark features of depression. However, little is known about the interplay among these important risk factors to depression. This cross-sectional study investigated how multiple cognitive biases modulate the habitual use of ER processes and how ER habits subsequently regulate depressive symptoms. All participants first executed a computerised version of the scrambled sentences test (interpretation bias measure) while their eye movements were registered (attention bias measure) and then completed questionnaires assessing positive reappraisal, brooding, and depressive symptoms. Path and bootstrapping analyses supported both direct effects of cognitive biases on depressive symptoms and indirect effects via the use of brooding and via the use of reappraisal that was in turn related to the use of brooding. These findings help to formulate a better understanding of how cognitive biases and ER habits interact to maintain depressive symptoms.     

Subjective age and sleep in middle-aged and older adults

Objective: Chronological age is commonly used to explain change in sleep. The present study examines whether subjective age is associated with change in sleep difficulties across middle adulthood and old age.

Design: Participants were drawn from the second (2004–2005) and third (2013–2014) waves of the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS, N = 2350; Mean Age: 55.54 years), the 2008 and 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N = 4066; Mean Age: 67.59 years) and the first (2011) and fourth (2014) waves of the National Health and Aging Trends Survey (NHATS, N = 3541; Mean Age: 76.46). In each sample, subjective age, sleep difficulties, depressive symptoms, anxiety and chronic conditions were assessed at baseline. Sleep difficulties was assessed again at follow-up.

Main outcome measures: Sleep difficulties.

Results: An older subjective age at baseline was related to an increase in sleep difficulties over time in the three samples, and was mediated, in part, through more depressive symptoms, anxiety and chronic conditions. Feeling older was associated with an increased likelihood of major sleeping difficulties at follow-up in the three samples.

Conclusion: Subjective age is a salient marker of individuals’ at risk for poor sleep quality, beyond chronological age.     

在美国样本中母亲抑郁症状与儿童退缩的关系:教养行为的中介作用

本研究通过使用美国国家儿童健康与人类发育研究所的纵向研究数据建立分层线性模型,探究在儿童的早期发展中,母亲抑郁症状对儿童的社会性退缩的影响,以及母亲的教养行为在这一关系中的中介作用,结果发现：（1）在儿童24~54个月期间,随着母亲抑郁症状的升高,儿童的社会性退缩也随之升高;（2）母亲抑郁症对儿童社会性退缩的影响存在着性别差异,与女孩相比,男孩的社会性退缩更容易受到母亲抑郁症状的影响;（3）在男孩中,消极的教养行为在母亲抑郁症状与男孩的社会性退缩之间起到了中介作用,而在女孩中,这一中介作用并不显著。     

Drug Tolerance, Drug Addiction, and Drug Anticipation

ABSTRACT— Environmental cues associated with drugs often elicit withdrawal symptoms and relapse to drug use. Such cues also modulate drug tolerance. The contribution of drug-associated stimuli to withdrawal and tolerance is emphasized in a Pavlovian-conditioning analysis of drug administration. Conditional responses occur in the presence of cues that have been associated with the drug in the past, such as the setting in which the drug was taken. These conditional responses mediate the expression of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. Recently, it has become apparent that internal predrug cues, as well as environmental cues, elicit pharmacological conditional responses that contribute to tolerance and withdrawal. Such internal cues include cognitive or proprioceptive cues incidental to self-administration, drug-onset cues that are experienced shortly after administration, and emotional cues. According to the conditioning analysis, addiction treatment should incorporate learning principles to extinguish the association between stimuli (environmental and internal) present at the time of drug administration and the effects of the addictive drug.     

Paternal Psychiatric Symptoms and Maladaptive Paternal Behavior in the Home During the Child Rearing Years

Data from the Children in the Community Study, a community-based longitudinal study were used to investigate associations between paternal psychiatric disorders and child-rearing behaviors. Paternal psychiatric symptoms and behavior in the home were assessed among 782 families during the childhood and adolescence of the offspring. Paternal anxiety, disruptive, mood, personality, and substance use disorders were independently associated with specific types of maladaptive paternal behavior in the home during the child-rearing years after paternal age, education, income, co-occurring paternal psychiatric symptoms, offspring age, sex, intelligence, temperament, and psychiatric symptoms were controlled statistically. Paternal psychiatric disorders that were present by mean offspring age 14 were associated with elevated risk for maladaptive paternal behavior in the home at mean age offspring 16, after prior maladaptive paternal behavior was controlled statistically. These findings suggest that paternal psychiatric disorder may be an important determinant of maladaptive paternal behavior in the home during the child-rearing years. Improved recognition and treatment of paternal psychiatric disorders may help to reduce the amount of maladaptive parenting behavior that many children and adolescents might otherwise be likely to experience.     

抑郁症状阳性人群的初始沙盘特征

采用病例对照研究设计,探讨抑郁症状阳性人群初始沙盘特征。结果显示：抑郁症状阳性组在总数、动物、人物、建筑物、交通工具、植物类沙具使用少于对照组;抑郁症状阳性组沙盘空间领域使用少于对照组;抑郁症状阳性组在从哪里开始、对沙的态度、有无蓝色露底、是否使用桥、自己感觉是否满意、自我像是否在其中和主题场景上与对照组比较差异有统计学意义;沙盘主题特征回归分析显示进入抑郁症状阳性回归方程的沙盘主题特征变量有忽视、威胁、流动和能量。抑郁症状阳性人群在沙盘游戏中有特征性表现,初始沙盘具有临床心理评估的功能和价值。     

Rethinking safety behaviors in insomnia: examining the perceived utility of sleep-related safety behaviors

Harvey's cognitive model of insomnia (2002a) proposes that sleep-related safety behaviors play a central role in the maintenance of insomnia because such maladaptive coping strategies are thought to reinforce threat-based appraisals of the likelihood and consequences of poor sleep. Research to date has assessed the frequency of safety behavior use in those with insomnia only; however, in addition to the frequency of occurrence, the function of safety behaviors (i.e., a belief that they will prevent a feared outcome from occurring), may be an important consideration. The purpose of this study was to examine sleep-related safety behaviors based on an expanded theoretical understanding of such behaviors across psychological disorders; that is, by examining both their frequency and perceived utility. Undergraduate students (N = 376) completed an online survey about their sleep, mood, and use of sleep-related safety behaviors. Insomnia severity was associated with a greater perceived need to use safety behaviors (i.e., utility) but not with frequency of safety behavior use. Higher perceived utility of safety behaviors was also associated with unhelpful beliefs about sleep, fear and avoidance of fatigue, and both general and sleep-specific helplessness. These results suggest that these behaviors and the associated underlying maladaptive beliefs may be important targets in cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. The current study extends the existing literature and refines the concept of safety behaviors in insomnia to include both the function and frequency of these behaviors.