scholarly journals Severity of anabolic steroid dependence, executive function, and personality traits in substance use disorder patients in Norway

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan Scarth ◽  
Ingrid Amalia Havnes ◽  
Marie L. Jørstad ◽  
Jim McVeigh ◽  
Marie-Claire Van Hout ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Substance Use Disorder ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Emotional Control ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Multinomial Regression ◽  
Steroid Dependence

Background: Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), including testosterone and synthetic derivatives, are typically used to increase muscle mass. Many users develop a dependence on these substances, contributing to worsened physical and mental health outcomes. Aspects of personality and executive dysfunction may represent underlying vulnerabilities for developing dependence.Objective: To identify levels of AAS dependence within substance use disorder (SUD) treatment patients and assess the relationship between dependence severity and personality traits and executive function (EF).Methods: Data were collected from patients at 38 SUD treatment facilities in Norway. Questionnaires were completed for measures of personality and EF. Measures of symptoms of AAS dependence were used in latent class analysis to identify sub-groups of patients, which were evaluated for association with EF and personality traits, and compared with a group of non-AAS using SUD patients. Results: Three classes were identified; largely reflecting low, moderate, and high symptoms of dependence. Multinomial regression analyses indicated that moderate and high symptoms were associated with several measures of EF and personality traits, particularly antagonism, disinhibition, psychoticism, and relational capacities, while users with low symptoms exhibited higher capacities for emotional control and shift, and lower negative affectivity, relative to non-AAS using SUD patients. Backward stepwise regressions indicated antagonism, and decreased self-monitoring as key personality and cognitive characteristics of SUD patients with severe AAS dependence.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that specific executive dysfunctions and personality features, particularly those associated with poor emotional control, reduced empathy, and impulsivity are associated with more severe AAS dependence in the SUD population.

scholarly journals Severity of anabolic steroid dependence, executive function, and personality traits in substance use disorder patients in Norway

2022 ◽  
pp. 109275
Author(s):  
Morgan Scarth ◽  
Ingrid A. Havnes ◽  
Marie L. Jørstad ◽  
Jim McVeigh ◽  
Marie Claire Van Hout ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Substance Use Disorder ◽  
Anabolic Steroid ◽  
Steroid Dependence

Emotion, Executive Dysfunction, and Agency

2021 ◽  
pp. 51-79
Author(s):  
Kevin Timpe
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Virtue Theory ◽  
Emotional Control ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Emotional Disability ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Human Emotions

Virtue theory has addressed the role of human emotions in moral agency since its earliest proponents. Timpe’s goal in this chapter is to see how far this connection can be pushed by looking at certain kinds of emotional disability (or impairments with regard to emotional control). More specifically, he explores what implications contemporary research in psychology about executive dysfunction and emotion has for thinking about virtues that take emotions as their objects (e.g., fortitude). Timpe argues that certain kinds of disabilities significantly impact an agent’s ability to develop the proper dispositions regarding emotions that are typically associated with virtue and human flourishing because of how those disabilities impact the agent’s emotions. Some disabilities will impair an agent’s ability to exercise the kind of executive function needed to regulate the emotions and develop virtue. Timpe ends by considering how the sort of disabilities considered relate to Christian flourishing and community.

scholarly journals Inhibitory and Emotional Control Deficits as Predictors of Symptoms of Problem Behaviors among Juvenile Delinquents

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S10) ◽  
pp. 16-20
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Aggressive Behavior ◽  
Problem Behaviors ◽  
Juvenile Delinquents ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Emotional Control ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Problem Behaviours

Executive dysfunction of inhibitory and emotional control deficits has not gained attention as a predictor in previous research on problem behaviors. Thus, this study examined inhibitory and emotional control deficits as predictors of symptoms of problem behaviors. There were 404 young offenders with various crimes such as stealing, substance use, rape, homicide, gang fights, and early sexual relation/pregnancy and out of control behavior participated in the study. Behavior Rating Instrument of Executive Function-Self Report (BRIEF-SR) and Achenbach System of Empirical Behavior Assessment (ASEBA-YSR) were employed, respectively. The results showed there was a significant relationships between inhibitory and emotional control deficits with both symptoms of problem behaviours; rule-breaking behavior and aggressive behavior. Moreover, based on regression weights, inhibitory control deficit was the best predictor of attention problems and aggressive behavior. On the contrary, an emotional control deficit was the best predictor of both symptoms of problem behaviors. In conclusion, the executive function plays a significant role in problem behaviors among juvenile delinquents. Thus early prevention based on both inhibitory and emotional controls component must be considered in three different settings such as family, school, and community. Thorough consideration in developing and inserting these two executive function components also are much needed in an educational setting as it is where adolescents spend much of the time.

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