•A high-risk design is useful for evaluating BIS/BAS as a vulnerability factor.•Depressed biological offspring of depressed mothers show elevated BIS, but not BAS.•Elevated BIS is not observed in ...non-depressed biological offspring.•When controlling for anxiety, BIS-depression relations become non-significant.
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST), the original (i.e. Gray, 1982) or revised (Gray & McNaughton, 2000), has yet to be used as a framework for investigating vulnerability to Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in adolescents. The present study employed a high-risk design to examine whether aberrant BIS-FFFS/BAS activity was similarly present in both depressed girls and girls at high risk for depression.
N=85 age-matched biological daughters of mothers with differential MDD status: (a) MDD (n=17), (b) high-risk (n=34), and (c) healthy controls (n=34) completed measures of the BIS/BAS, depression, and anxiety.
MDD girls scored significantly higher on BIS than healthy controls but not high-risk girls, and the high-risk and control groups did not differ. No group differences were found on BAS or FFFS-Fear.
Elevated BIS was not identified as a vulnerability factor for MDD; however, it does distinguish depressed adolescents from healthy controls.
•Generalized shame, contextual shame and generalized guilt mediate the relationship between affective empathy and depressive symptoms in inpatient adolescents.•Cognitive empathy is associated the ...most strongly with contextual guilt and not related to depressive symptoms.•Shame and generalized guilt associated with affective sharing should be considered as possible targets for therapeutic and preventive interventions for adolescents with high levels of depressive symptoms.
High levels of affective empathy are associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms. However, studies investigating the mechanisms underlying this relation are limited. Since affective empathy may be associated with a feeling of exaggerated responsibility for alleviating the suffering of others, it may lead to high levels of generalized guilt and various forms of shame, which, in turn, may elevate depressive symptoms. Therefore, these self-conscious emotions are candidate mediators of the affective empathy-depressive symptoms relationship. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that generalized and contextual shame and generalized guilt mediate the relations between affective empathy and depressive symptoms.
117 inpatient adolescents completed the Basic Empathy Scale to assess affective and cognitive empathy, the Beck Depression Inventory-II to evaluate severity of depressive symptoms, the Test of Self-Conscious Affect that measures contextual guilt and shame, and the Personal Feelings Questionnaire that assess generalized guilt and shame.
Findings demonstrated that generalized guilt, contextual and generalized shame mediated the relation between affective empathy and depressive symptoms. In contrast, cognitive empathy was shown to be related most strongly to contextual guilt and was unrelated to depressive symptoms.
Characteristics of the sample (predominately Caucasian inpatient adolescents from well-educated and financially stable environments), the lack of a longitudinal design, and over-reliance on self-report measures were main limitations of the study.
The study provides novel information on the mechanisms underlying the association between affective empathy and depressive symptoms and shows that shame and generalized guilt associated with affective sharing should be considered as possible targets for therapeutic/preventive interventions for adolescents with high levels of depressive symptoms.
Recently, efforts have been made to better understand constructs that are associated with difficulties in emotion regulation in hopes of identifying underlying mechanisms that may be valuable targets ...for intervention. Against this background, the present study had two aims. Firstly, we wanted to explore the relation between emotion regulation, experiential avoidance and alexithymia by determining whether adolescents with elevated scores on a measure of alexithymia would report deficits in emotion regulation and experiential avoidance. Secondly, we sought to evaluate the role of experiential avoidance as a mediator in the relation between alexithymia and emotion regulation. The sample (N = 64) consisted of adolescents recruited from an inpatient facility of which approximately 30% were classified as having alexithymia. The results of this study indicate that adolescents with alexithymia report deficits in emotion regulation and elevated experiential avoidance. Experiential avoidance mediated the relation between alexithymia and emotion regulation, indicating that while the inability to effectively use language to identify and describe emotional states is strongly correlated with difficulties in regulating one’s emotions, this relation is mediated by the unwillingness to tolerate aversive private experiences. Limitations and strengths of the present study are also noted.
In this commentary, I highlight a perceived reluctance in Morey et al.'s (2022) contribution to fully commit to a definition of the level of personality functioning (LPF), not as the functional ...consequence of extreme traits, but as an intrapsychic system that drives trait manifestation. I argue that for the LPF to reach its full potential to innovate the assessment and diagnosis of personality pathology beyond mere signs and symptoms, it is essential to define the LPF as a subjective meaning-making system located in biological systems that support the metacognitive capacities necessary for abstracting a sense of self. This view reflects the idea that personality does not simply describe a person (as traits do) but also captures how a person manages their self in relation to others (as LPF does). It implies a definition of personality that includes structural motivational components that fulfill an intrapsychic, organizing function, acknowledging the fact that traits alone are not enough to fully describe personality.
Most adolescents live in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), and about 10% of them face mental problems. The mental health provision gap in low- and middle-income countries could be addressed by ...evidence-based practices, however costs are implementational barriers. Digitalization can improve the accessibility of these tools and constitutes a chance for LMIC to use them more easily at a low cost. We reviewed free and brief evidence-based mental health assessment tools available for digital use to assess psychopathology across different domains in youth.
For the current study, instruments from a recent review on paper-based instruments were re-used. Additionally, a systematic search was conducted to add instruments for the personality disorder domain. We searched and classified the copyright and license terms available from the internet in terms of free usage and deliverability in a digital format. In the case that this information was insufficient, we contacted the authors.
In total, we evaluated 109 instruments. Of these instruments, 53 were free and digitally usable covering 11 mental health domains. However, retrieving information on copyright and license terms was very difficult.
Free and digitally adaptable instruments are available, supporting the strategy of using instruments digitally to increase access. The instrument's authors support this initiative, however, the lack of copyright information and the difficulties in contacting the authors and licence holders are barriers to using this strategy in LMIC. A comprehensive, online instrument repository for clinical practice would be an appropriate next step to make the instruments more accessible and reduce implementation barriers.
Recent advances suggest that impairment in social cognition (SC) may play a role in the development of social anxiety (SA). However, very few studies have analyzed whether SA fosters poorer ...social-cognitive development as it leads to social avoidance. This study aimed to analyze whether retrospectively assessed behavioral inhibition (BI) (i.e., an early form of SA) in childhood is associated with a deficit in social cognition operationalized as impairment of mentalizing (MZ) in adolescence. A sample of 256 adolescents (range: 12-18 years; mean age: 14.7 years; SD = 1.7) from general population were assessed for MZ capacities and retrospective BI through self-report and interview measures. Results comparing three groups of adolescents with different levels of childhood BI (low, moderate or high) and controlling for concurrent SA and depression reveal that the higher the level of BI, the lower the level of MZ. These results were consistent for almost all mentalization measures, including when both extreme (i.e., high vs. low BI) and non-extreme (i.e., high vs. moderate BI) were compared in both self-report and interview measures and in both dimensions of MZ (i.e., MZ referred to others' and to own mental states). These findings support that childhood forms of SA are associated to deficit in SC in adolescence. A possible bi-directional relationship between SA and SC, and the role that it may play in the pathway to clinical SA are discussed.
Background The dimensional approach to personality pathology opens up the possibility to investigate adolescence as a significant period for the development of personality pathology. Recent evidence ...suggests that symptoms of personality pathology may change during adolescence, but the negative consequences such as impaired social functioning persist later on in life. Thus, we think that problems in social functioning may further predict personality impairments. The current study aimed at investigating the role of relationship quality with parents and peers for the prediction of the level of personality functioning across adolescence. We hypothesized that 1) relationship quality with both parents and peers will significantly account for the level of personality functioning in adolescence and 2) the importance of relationship quality with peers for the relation to impairments in personality functioning will increase with age. Methods A community sample consisting of 855 adolescents aged 11-18 (M = 14.44, SD = 1.60; 62.5% female) from different regions in Lithuania participated in this study. Self-report questionnaires included the Levels of Personality Functioning Questionnaire to investigate personality impairments and the Network of Relationships Questionnaire to assess the quality of dyadic relationships. Results Discord in the parent, but not peer relationships, was related to a more severe level of personality functioning across adolescence. Lower levels of closeness with parents accounted for higher impairments in personality functioning. The importance of closeness with peers for the explanation of the level of personality functioning increased with age. Conclusions During the sensitive period for the development of a personality disorder, relationship quality with the closest adults and peers both remain important for the explanation of impairments in personality functioning. Keywords: Level of personality functioning, Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD), ICD-11, Adolescence, Relationship quality, Network of relationships
Recent extensions of mentalization theory have included the hypothesis that a reduced capacity for epistemic trust in the context of attachment relationships may represent a core vulnerability for ...the development of borderline personality disorder (BPD). The first aim of the current study was to explore empirical relationships between epistemic trust and symptoms of BPD. The second aim was to explore the effect of epistemic trust on treatment response.
Data were collected from 322 inpatient adolescents. The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) trust in mother and father subscales were used to approximate epistemic trust in the absence of a validated measure. A multimodal approach was used to measure BPD including self-report, parent-report, and interviewer ratings. Regression analyses were performed to explore the relationship between IPPA trust scores and measures of BPD. Mixed-design analyses of variance were conducted to evaluate whether self-reported parent trust at admission influenced progress in treatment.
As hypothesized, results indicated that reduced IPPA trust in parents correlated with BPD symptoms across various measures. Levels of IPPA trust in parents at admission did not moderate a reduction in BPD symptoms over the course of treatment.
This study provides support for the theoretical association between deficits in epistemic trust and BPD while also highlighting the need for a validated measure of epistemic trust. Although parent trust at admission did not moderate a reduction in BPD symptoms over the course of treatment, this result may suggest that progress in treatment, and perhaps the ability to cultivate trust in the treatment setting and providers, may not be overly determined by levels of parent trust.
Abstract Background Observational assessments of parent-adolescent conflict can guide interventions to prevent and reduce conflict and mental health problems. The authors identified the Observing ...Mediational Interactions (OMI) as a particularly useful coding system for examining parent-adolescent conflict. The OMI is the observational measure used in the Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers (MISC) and quantifies emotional (attachment-based) and cognitive (learning-based) behaviors during caregiver-child interactions. Objective The overall aim of the current study was to tailor and evaluate the OMI specifically for observing conflict interactions. Method Conflict discussions between 56 clinical youth aged 10-15 years and their mothers were coded using the OMI. Reliability, construct validity, and associations with affect following the conflict discussion were examined. Results Analyses revealed that the OMI demonstrated adequate internal consistency, interrater reliability, and construct validity in terms of associations with an alternate observational measure and parent-reported family functioning and stress. Additionally, mothers who engaged in fewer negative parenting behaviors reported greater positive affect following the conflict discussion, controlling for baseline affect. Conclusions Taken together, findings support the use of the OMI in future studies. While further research should attempt to extend findings to other populations and settings and elaborate the coding instructions as needed, researchers can use the OMI to inform ongoing adaptations of MISC and identify targets for prevention and intervention more broadly.
The prevalence of pathological gambling among college students is increasing. Few studies have directly examined the relation between reward processing and gambling severity while concurrently ...examining the effects of co-occurring negative affect in this at risk population. This study used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques to analyze results from an online survey of 352 female and 96 male students age 18–25. Participants completed measures of past year gambling behavior and severity of gambling problems using the Canadian Problem Gambling Index and the Problem Gambling Severity Index. Negative affect and reward processing were measured by the 21-item version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales and the Behavioral Inhibition System and Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS) scales, respectively. Thirty-five percent of participants reported gambling in the previous 12 months, and 11% had gambling severity scores indicative of “moderate-risk” or “problem gambling.” Gambling severity was associated with negative affect. Negative affect, in turn, was correlated with the unitary BIS scale and inversely associated with the BAS reward responsiveness scale. Reward responsiveness was also inversely associated with gambling severity. In the SEM models, the association between reward responsiveness and gambling severity was mediated by negative affect among males but not among females. Potential explanations for these findings and their implications for addressing problem gambling are discussed.
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