Mental Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Siblings: Effects of Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Family.

Self-identified lesbian, gay male, and bisexual (LGB) individuals were recruited via convenience sampling, and they in turn recruited their siblings (79% heterosexual, 19% LGB). The resulting sample of 533 heterosexual, 558 lesbian or gay male, and 163 bisexual participants was compared on mental health variables and their use of mental health services. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that sexual orientation predicted suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, self-injurious behavior, use of psychotherapy, and use of psychiatric medications over and above the effects of family adjustment. Sexual orientation was unrelated to current psychological distress, psychiatric hospitalizations, and self-esteem. This is the 1st study to model family effects on the mental health of LGB participants and their siblings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A biosocial developmental model of borderline personality: Elaborating and extending linehan’s theory.

Over the past several decades, research has focused increasingly on developmental precursors to psychological disorders that were previously assumed to emerge only in adulthood. This change in focus follows from the recognition that complex transactions between biological vulnerabilities and psychosocial risk factors shape emotional and behavioral development beginning at conception. To date, however, empirical research on the development of borderline personality is extremely limited. Indeed, in the decade since M. M. Linehan initially proposed a biosocial model of the development of borderline personality disorder, there have been few attempts to test the model among at-risk youth. In this review, diverse literatures are reviewed that can inform understanding of the ontogenesis of borderline pathology, and testable hypotheses are proposed to guide future research with at-risk children and adolescents. One probable pathway is identified that leads to borderline personality disorder; it begins with early vulnerability, expressed initially as impulsivity and followed by heightened emotional sensitivity. These vulnerabilities are potentiated across development by environmental risk factors that give rise to more extreme emotional, behavioral, and cognitive dysregulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomic correlates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder in preschool children.

Numerous studies have revealed autonomic underarousal in conduct-disordered adolescents and antisocial adults. It is unknown, however, whether similar autonomic markers are present in at-risk preschoolers. In this study, the authors compared autonomic profiles of 4- to 6-year-old children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD; n = 18) with those of age-matched controls (n = 20). Children with ADHD and ODD exhibited fewer electrodermal responses and lengthened cardiac preejection periods at baseline and during reward. Although group differences were not found in baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia, heart rate changes among ADHD and ODD participants were mediated exclusively by parasympathetic withdrawal, with no independent sympathetic contribution. Heart rate changes among controls were mediated by both autonomic branches. These results suggest that at-risk preschoolers are autonomically similar to older externalizing children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pseudotaxonicity in MAMBAC and MAXCOV analyses of rating-scale data: Turning continua into classes by manipulating observer's expectations.

Taxometric procedures such as mean above minus below a cut and maximum covariance can determine whether a trait is distributed as a discrete latent class. These methods have been used to infer taxonic structure in several personality and psychopathology constructs, often from analyses of rating scale data. This is problematic given (a) well established biases in ratings, (b) the human tendency to think categorically, and (c) implicit typological models of personality and psychopathology among expert raters. Using an experimental method in which the cognitive sets of raters were manipulated as dimensional versus categorical, it is demonstrated that pseudotaxonicity can be created readily with rating scale measures. This suggests that researchers avoid an exclusive reliance on rating scales when conducting taxometrics investigations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Definitions and levels of analysis.

Presents concerns with the article by D. M. Buss et al (see record 1998-01669-001). The present author states his main concern as being the suggestion by Buss et al that S. J. Gould (see record 1992-11754-001) was inconsistent in his usage of the term "exaptation," and that his stated definitions seem to require these effects to be biological. Additionally, the author takes issue with the suggestion by Buss et al that Gould used the term to "cover novel but functionless uses or consequences of existing characteristics," and offers his own interpretation of Gould's research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediators, Moderators, and Predictors of 1-Year Outcomes Among Children Treated for Early-Onset Conduct Problems: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis.

Several child conduct problem interventions have been classified as either efficacious or well established. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned about predictors of treatment response and mechanisms of behavioral change. In this study, the authors combine data from 6 randomized clinical trials and 514 children, ages 3.0-8.5 years, to evaluate moderators, mediators, and predictors of outcome. Among other findings, latent growth curve models of mother-report and observational measures of child externalizing behaviors suggested that marital adjustment, maternal depression, paternal substance abuse, and child comorbid anxiety/depression each moderated treatment response. Moreover, critical, harsh, and ineffective parenting both predicted and mediated outcome, with the most favorable responses observed when parents scored relatively low on each construct at intake yet improved during treatment. Implications for treatment nonresponders are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Three-year follow-up of same-sex couples who had civil unions in Vermont, same-sex couples not in civil unions, and heterosexual married couples.

This study was a 3-year follow-up of 65 male and 138 female same-sex couples who had civil unions in Vermont during the 1st year of that legislation. These couples were compared with 23 male and 61 female same-sex couples in their friendship circles who did not have civil unions and with 55 heterosexual married couples (1 member of each was a sibling to a member of a civil union couple). Despite the legalized nature of their relationships, civil union couples did not differ on any measure from same-sex couples who were not in civil unions. However, same-sex couples not in civil unions were more likely to have ended their relationships than same-sex civil union or heterosexual married couples. Compared with heterosexual married participants, both types of same-sex couples reported greater relationship quality, compatibility, and intimacy and lower levels of conflict. Longitudinal predictors of relationship quality at Time 2 included less conflict, greater level of outness, and a shorter relationship length for men in same-sex relationships and included less conflict and more frequent sex for women in same-sex relationships at Time 1. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurological correlates of reward responding in adolescents with and without externalizing behavior disorders.

Opposing theories of striatal hyper- and hypodopaminergic functioning have been suggested in the pathophysiology of externalizing behavior disorders. To test these competing theories, the authors used functional MRI to evaluate neural activity during a simple reward task in 12- to 16-year-old boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and/or conduct disorder (n = 19) and in controls with no psychiatric condition (n = 11). The task proceeded in blocks during which participants received either (a) monetary incentives for correct responses or (b) no rewards for correct responses. Controls exhibited striatal activation only during reward, shifting to anterior cingulate activation during nonreward. In contrast, externalizing adolescents exhibited striatal activation during both reward and nonreward. Externalizing psychopathology appears to be characterized by deficits in processing the omission of predicted reward, which may render behaviors that are acquired through environmental contingencies difficult to extinguish when those contingencies change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing clinical significance: Does it matter which method we use?

Measures of clinical significance are frequently used to evaluate client change during therapy. Several alternatives to the original method devised by N. S. Jacobson, W. C. Follette, & D. Revenstorf (1984) have been proposed, each purporting to increase accuracy. However, researchers have had little systematic guidance in choosing among alternatives. In this simulation study, the authors systematically explored data parameters (e.g., reliability of measurement, pre-post effect size, and pre-post correlation) that might yield differing results among the most widely considered clinical significance methods. Results indicated that classification across methods was far more similar than different, especially at greater levels of reliability. As such, the existing methods of clinical significance appear highly comparable; future directions for clinical significance use and research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Victimization Over the Life Span: A Comparison of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Siblings.

Lifetime victimization was examined in a primarily European American sample that comprised 557 lesbian/gay, 163 bisexual, and 525 heterosexual adults. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) participants were recruited via LGB e-mail lists, periodicals, and organizations; these participants recruited 1 or more siblings for participation in the study (81% heterosexual, 19% LGB). In hierarchical linear modeling analyses, sexual orientation was a significant predictor of most of the victimization variables. Compared with heterosexual participants, LGB participants reported more childhood psychological and physical abuse by parents or caretakers, more childhood sexual abuse, more partner psychological and physical victimization in adulthood, and more sexual assault experiences in adulthood. Sexual orientation differences in sexual victimization were greater among men than among women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)