Early Adversity and Internalizing Psychopathology

This is a personal and reflective piece written from a clinician's point of view on the influence that the developing awareness around the consequences of childhood adversity has had upon the discussions, thinking and practice across the areas in which they are working. It seeks to argue that the increased understanding and recognition of the potential impact of early adversity can not only enhance and deepen the understanding of an individual's difficulties, but can serve to inform how services respond in a way that takes account of this. It suggests that the research and literature on childhood adversity can offer a route map away from a model of mental health that focuses predominantly on the individual as the sole source of interest.

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Polygenic Risk Score for Smoking is associated with Externalizing Psychopathology and Disinhibited Personality Traits but not Internalizing Psychopathology in Adolescence

10.31234/osf.io/q8u7a ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Brian M. Hicks ◽

D. Angus Clark ◽

Joseph D. Deak ◽

Mengzhen Liu ◽

C. Emily Durbin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Genetic Risk ◽

Behavioral Control ◽

Cumulative Exposure ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Behavioral Disinhibition ◽

Polygenic Risk ◽

Externalizing Psychopathology ◽

Internalizing Psychopathology ◽

Random Intercept

Importance: Large consortia of genome wide association studies have yielded more accurate polygenic risk scores (PRS) that aggregate the small effects of many genetic variants to characterize the genetic architecture of disorders and provide a personalized measure of genetic risk. Objective: We examined whether a PRS for smoking measured genetic risk for general behavioral disinhibition by estimating its associations with externalizing and internalizing psychopathology and related personality traits. We examined these associations at multiple time points in adolescence using more refined phenotypes defined by stable characteristics across time and at young ages, which reduced potential confounds associated with cumulative exposure to substances and reverse causality. Methods: Random intercept panel models were fit to symptoms of conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and teacher ratings of externalizing and internalizing problems and personality traits at ages 11, 14, and 17 years-old in the Minnesota Twin Family Study (N = 3225). Results: The smoking PRS had strong associations with the random intercept factors for all the externalizing measures (mean standardized ꞵ = .27), agreeableness (ꞵ=-.22, 95% CI: -.28, -.16), and conscientiousness (ꞵ=-.19, 95% CI: -.24, -.13), but was not significantly associated with the internalizing measures (mean ꞵ = .06) or extraversion (ꞵ=.01, 95% CI: -.05, .07). After controlling for smoking at age 17, the associations with the externalizing measures (mean ꞵ = .13) and personality traits related to behavioral control (mean ꞵ = -.10) remained statistically significant. Conclusions and Relevance: The smoking PRS measures genetic influences that contribute to a spectrum of phenotypes related to behavioral disinhibition including externalizing psychopathology and normal-range personality traits related to behavioral control, but not internalizing psychopathology. Continuing to identify the correlates and delineate the mechanisms of the genetic influences associated with disinhibition could have substantial impact in mitigating a variety of public health problems (e.g., mental health, academic achievement, criminality).

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Do measures of healthy eating differ in survivors of early adversity?

Appetite ◽

10.1016/j.appet.2021.105180 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 162 ◽

pp. 105180

Author(s):

Francisco D. Marquez ◽

Patricia M. Risica ◽

Karen Jennings Mathis ◽

Adam Sullivan ◽

Asi Polly Gobin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthy Eating ◽

Early Adversity

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An fMRI investigation of the relations between Extraversion, internalizing psychopathology, and neural activation following reward receipt in the Human Connectome Project sample

Personality Neuroscience ◽

10.1017/pen.2020.11 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Courtland S. Hyatt ◽

Emily S. Hallowell ◽

Max M. Owens ◽

Brandon M. Weiss ◽

Lawrence H. Sweet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Personality Trait ◽

Factor Model ◽

Five Factor Model ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Levels Of Analysis ◽

Future Research ◽

Neural Activation ◽

Internalizing Psychopathology ◽

Human Connectome Project

Abstract Quantitative models of psychopathology (i.e., HiTOP) propose that personality and psychopathology are intertwined, such that the various processes that characterize personality traits may be useful in describing and predicting manifestations of psychopathology. In the current study, we used data from the Human Connectome Project (N = 1050) to investigate neural activation following receipt of a reward during an fMRI task as one shared mechanism that may be related to the personality trait Extraversion (specifically its sub-component Agentic Extraversion) and internalizing psychopathology. We also conducted exploratory analyses on the links between neural activation following reward receipt and the other Five-Factor Model personality traits, as well as separate analyses by gender. No significant relations (p < .005) were observed between any personality trait or index of psychopathology and neural activation following reward receipt, and most effect sizes were null to very small in nature (i.e., r < |.05|). We conclude by discussing the appropriate interpretation of these null findings, and provide suggestions for future research that spans psychological and neurobiological levels of analysis.

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Polygenic Score for Smoking Is Associated With Externalizing Psychopathology and Disinhibited Personality Traits but Not Internalizing Psychopathology in Adolescence

Clinical Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/21677026211002117 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 216770262110021

Author(s):

Brian M. Hicks ◽

D. Angus Clark ◽

Joseph D. Deak ◽

Mengzhen Liu ◽

C. Emily Durbin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Behavioral Control ◽

Behavioral Disinhibition ◽

Multiple Time ◽

Normal Range ◽

Polygenic Score ◽

Externalizing Psychopathology ◽

Internalizing Psychopathology ◽

Multiple Time Points ◽

Related Personality

We examined whether a polygenic score (PGS) for smoking measured genetic risk for general behavioral disinhibition by estimating its associations with externalizing and internalizing psychopathology and related personality traits at multiple time points in adolescence (ages 11, 14, and 17 years; N = 3,225). The smoking PGS had strong associations with the stable variance across time for all the externalizing measures (mean standardized β = 0.27), agreeableness (β = −0.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [−0.28, −0.16]), and conscientiousness (β = −0.19, 95% CI = [−0.24, −0.13]) but was not significantly associated with internalizing measures (mean β = 0.06) or extraversion (β = 0.01, 95% CI = [−0.05, 0.07]). After controlling for smoking at age 17 years, the associations with externalizing, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness remained statistically significant. The smoking PGS measures genetic influences that contribute to a spectrum of phenotypes related to behavioral disinhibition, including externalizing psychopathology and normal-range personality traits related to behavioral control but not internalizing psychopathology.

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