Disorder-specific Risk Factors Research Articles

Sociodemographic and clinical risk factors for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt in functional/dissociative seizures and epilepsy: a large cohort study

BackgroundPeople with functional/dissociative seizures (FDS) are at elevated suicidality risk.ObjectiveTo identify risk factors for suicidality in FDS or epilepsy.MethodsRetrospective cohort study from the UK’s largest tertiary mental healthcare provider, with...

Can mindful eating be a psycho-marker of obesity in bipolar disorder?

obesity is a very important problem in individuals with bipolar disorder. The study was aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity in individuals with bipolar disorder and to evaluate the effects of factors affecting eating behavior such as mindful eating, impulsivity and eating disorders on the development of obesity in these individuals. this study is a cross-sectional study. A total of 109 individuals (52 female; 57 male) with bipolar disorder who were in a euthymic state at the time of the interview and underwent outpatient follow-up, treatment and monitorization, and 109 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals as the control group were included in the study. The Mindful Eating Questionnaire-30 (MEQ-30), Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-21), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11-Short Form (BIS-11-SF), and Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) were used, and anthropometric measurements (height, bodyweight, etc.) were taken. the obesity rate was 50.4 % among the cases and 24.8 % in the control group. Moreover, disinhibition (3.4 ± 0.93), emotional eating (3.5 ± 1.13), and mindfulness (2.6 ± 0.54) scores of individuals with BD were significantly lower than for healthy individuals (3.7 ± 0.82, 4.0 ± 0.93, 2.8 ± 0.55, respectively). The risk of obesity was 5.19 times higher in cases compared to the age- and gender-matched controls (OR = 5.19, 95 % CI (2.01-13.37), p = 0.001). The risk of obesity was 2.76 times higher in those with low mindful eating level (OR = 2.76, 95 % CI (1.07-5.47), p = 0.014) and 4.29 times higher in those using antipsyhotics/mood stabilizers (OR = 4.29, 95 % CI (1.12-12.24), p < 0.001). A comprehensive education program on mindful eating and healthy eating would be helpful in elucidating the mechanisms of the possible relationships between bipolar disorder-specific risk factors and mindful eating.

The Role of Distinct Facets of Perfectionism and Sociocultural Idealization of Thinness on Disordered Eating Symptoms

Introduction: Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality style implicated in risk for disordered eating (DE), yet the types of perfectionism most predictive of DE and how perfectionistic tendencies lead to the development of DE remains less clear. This study aimed to determine the types of perfectionism most strongly associated with DE and whether perceived pressures for thinness and thin-ideal internalization serve as intervening variables that explain associations between perfectionism and DE.Methods: An ethnically diverse sample of female college students (n = 154–292) completed well-validated self-report questionnaires assessing overall DE symptoms, perfectionism, and two sociocultural factors: pressures for thinness and thin-ideal internalization.Results: Only perfectionism constructs encompassed under the “maladaptive evaluative concerns” domain were significantly associated with DE. Double mediation models indicated that heightened pressures for thinness and thin-ideal internalization fully mediate perfectionism-DE associations.Discussion: Results suggest that disorder-specific risk factors related to idealization of thinness may be important for understanding how a transdiagnostic factor, like perfectionism, results in DE.

Contributions from outstanding young eating disorder investigators: What we are learning, how we are learning it, and where might we go next?

This is a time of striking progress in the field of eating disorders, and outstanding young psychological scientists are playing an important role in this progress. This special section provides a sample of this work, which is characterized by a diversity of research questions and methods. The importance of transdiagnostic processes that increase risk for both disordered eating and other dysfunction is reflected in articles that identify shared familial risk across disorders, integrate transdiagnostic and eating disorder-specific risk, and examine the impact of affective processing on restricting behavior. The importance of eating disorder-specific risk is reflected in an article on disorder-specific relations between hunger and taste. The importance of integrative risk models across levels of analysis is reflected in articles that investigate the heritable component of interactions between broad personality and disorder-specific risk factors, the momentary impact of personality traits on precipitants of binge-purge episodes, brain system function responses to environmental stressors, and cross-generational transmission of risk. The importance of further understanding the nature and scope of eating disorder pathology is reflected in a meta-analysis of purging disorder and an investigation of genetic effects on disordered eating in males. This commentary places these articles in the context of challenges facing the field and considers the future of eating disorders research. (PsycINFO Database Record

Eating disorder-specific risk factors moderate the relationship between negative urgency and binge eating: A behavioral genetic investigation.

Theoretical models of binge eating and eating disorders include both transdiagnostic and eating disorder-specific risk factors. Negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to act impulsively when distressed) is a critical transdiagnostic risk factor for binge eating, but limited research has examined interactions between negative urgency and disorder-specific variables. Investigating these interactions can help identify the circumstances under which negative urgency is most strongly associated with binge eating. We examined whether prominent risk factors (i.e., appearance pressures, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint) specified in well-established etiologic models of eating disorders moderate negative urgency-binge eating associations. Further, we investigated whether phenotypic moderation effects were due to genetic and/or environmental associations between negative urgency and binge eating. Participants were 988 female twins aged 11-25 years from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Appearance pressures, thin-ideal internalization, and body dissatisfaction, but not dietary restraint, significantly moderated negative urgency-binge eating associations, with high levels of these risk factors and high negative urgency associated with the greatest binge eating. Twin moderation models revealed that genetic, but not environmental, sharing between negative urgency and binge eating was enhanced at higher levels of these eating disorder-specific variables. Future longitudinal research should investigate whether eating disorder risk factors shape genetic influences on negative urgency into manifesting as binge eating. (PsycINFO Database Record

Anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders constitute the largest group of mental disorders in most western societies and are a leading cause of disability. The essential features of anxiety disorders are excessive and enduring fear, anxiety or avoidance of perceived threats, and can also include panic attacks. Although the neurobiology of individual anxiety disorders is largely unknown, some generalizations have been identified for most disorders, such as alterations in the limbic system, dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and genetic factors. In addition, general risk factors for anxiety disorders include female sex and a family history of anxiety, although disorder-specific risk factors have also been identified. The diagnostic criteria for anxiety disorders varies for the individual disorders, but are generally similar across the two most common classification systems: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10). Despite their public health significance, the vast majority of anxiety disorders remain undetected and untreated by health care systems, even in economically advanced countries. If untreated, these disorders are usually chronic with waxing and waning symptoms. Impairments associated with anxiety disorders range from limitations in role functioning to severe disabilities, such as the patient being unable to leave their home.

Adding Clinical Validity to the Statistical Power of Large-Scale Epidemiological Surveys on Internet Addiction in Adolescence: A Combined Approach to Investigate Psychopathology and Development-Specific Personality Traits Associated With Internet Addiction.

Research has indicated that internet addiction is associated with psychosocial maladjustment in adolescence. Many epidemiologic surveys are lacking representativeness, and knowledge on disorder-specific risk factors is scarce. One weakness of epidemiologic studies often regards their lack of generalizability to clinical reality. The aim of this study was to provide a detailed description of internet addiction among adolescents, focusing on its prevalence in a population-based context, psychopathological correlates, and predisposing factors. The main analyses were based on 2 large representative samples of German adolescents (N = 9,293; 12-19 years) collected in 2012, and the results were validated on a consecutive sample of 237 treatment-seeking adolescents (from 2009-2014). The Scale for the Assessment of Internet and Computer Game Addiction (AICA-S), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90R), and NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) were administered. Internet addiction occurred in 2.6% of adolescents, with almost comparable rates in both genders, whereas female patients (1.3%) were underrepresented among the treatment seekers. Internet-addicted adolescents from the clinical and the nonclinical setting displayed higher psychopathology (SDQ: P < .001) and functional impairment (Global Assessment of Functioning: P < .001) than adolescents with nonproblematic internet use. Low conscientiousness (in boys: β = -0.161 to -0.220; in girls: β = -0.103 to -0.240) and high negative affect (in boys: β = 0.141 to -0.193; in girls: β = 0.175 to 0.290) were personality correlates of internet addiction. Internet addiction is a widespread problematic behavior among male and female adolescents, and it is related to psychopathological symptoms. Low conscientiousness and high negative affect were identified as stable correlates for internet addiction independent of age and gender and can therefore be considered as risk factors for internet addiction.

Supplemental Material for Eating Disorder-Specific Risk Factors Moderate the Relationship Between Negative Urgency and Binge Eating: A Behavioral Genetic Investigation

Supplemental Material for Eating Disorder-Specific Risk Factors Moderate the Relationship Between Negative Urgency and Binge Eating: A Behavioral Genetic Investigation

Integrating eating disorder-specific risk factors into the acquired preparedness model of dysregulated eating: A moderated mediation analysis

Tests of the acquired preparedness model demonstrate that the personality trait of negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to act impulsively when distressed) predicts the expectation that eating alleviates negative affect, and this eating expectancy subsequently predicts dysregulated eating. Although recent data indicate that eating disorder-specific risk factors (i.e., appearance pressures, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint) strengthen negative urgency-dysregulated eating associations, it is unclear whether these risk factors impact associations directly or indirectly (i.e., through eating expectancies). The current study used latent moderated structural equation modeling to test moderated mediation hypotheses in a sample of 313 female college students. Eating expectancies mediated the association between negative urgency and dysregulated eating, and the indirect effect of negative urgency on dysregulated eating through eating expectancies was conditional on level of each eating disorder risk factor. Appearance pressures, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, and dietary restraint significantly moderated the association between eating expectancies and dysregulated eating, while only dietary restraint moderated the direct effect of negative urgency on dysregulated eating. Findings suggest that the development of high-risk eating expectancies among individuals with negative urgency, combined with sociocultural pressures for thinness and their consequences, is associated with the greatest risk for dysregulated eating.

Exploring divergent trajectories: Disorder-specific moderators of the association between negative urgency and dysregulated eating

Negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to act impulsively when experiencing negative emotions) is a well-established risk factor for dysregulated eating (e.g., binge eating, loss of control eating, emotional eating). However, negative urgency is transdiagnostic, in that it is associated with multiple forms of psychopathology. It is currently unclear why some individuals with high negative urgency develop dysregulated eating while others experience depressive symptoms or problematic alcohol use. Investigating disorder-specific moderators of the association between negative urgency and psychopathology may help elucidate these divergent trajectories. The current study examined interactions among negative urgency and eating disorder-specific risk factors specified in the well-established dual-pathway model of bulimic pathology (i.e., appearance pressures, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint). We hypothesized that these interactions would predict dysregulated eating, but not depressive symptoms or problematic alcohol use. Latent moderated structural equation modeling was used to test this hypothesis in a large (N = 313) sample of female college students. Negative urgency was significantly associated with dysregulated eating, depressive symptoms, and problematic alcohol use. However, interactions among negative urgency and dual-pathway model variables were specific to dysregulated eating and accounted for an additional 3–5% of the variance beyond main effects. Findings suggest that eating disorder-specific risk factors may shape negative urgency into manifesting as dysregulated eating versus another form of psychopathology. Future research should use longitudinal designs to further test the impact of interactions among disorder-specific risk factors and negative urgency on divergent psychopathology trajectories.

Addressing the Question of Disorder-Specific Risk Factors of Internet Addiction: A Comparison of Personality Traits in Patients with Addictive Behaviors and Comorbid Internet Addiction

Uncontrolled use of the internet has been reported to affect the lives of some users in a negative way. According to epidemiological studies, about 1% of the general population is showing signs of internet addiction. Since internet addiction is becoming a growing health concern, research on potential risk factors is becoming more important in order to develop strategies for prevention and to adopt therapeutic treatment. Although there are some studies investigating personality traits in internet addiction, most of these studies are based on samples of healthy subjects. In this research project, we compared personality profiles of a sample of patients in different rehabilitation centers. 70 patients with an addiction disorder that additionally met the criteria for internet addiction were compared to 48 patients suffering from alcohol dependence. Besides Big Five personality traits, we also assessed depressive symptoms. It was shown that patients with comorbid internet addiction can be discriminated from other patients by higher neuroticism and lower extraversion as well as lower conscientiousness. After controlling for depressive symptoms, lower conscientiousness especially turned out to be a disorder-specific risk factor. As internet addiction is related to unique patterns of personality traits and can be discriminated from alcohol dependence, treatment approaches are needed that meet the specific requirements of patients with internet addiction.

ADHD and autism: differential diagnosis or overlapping traits? A selective review

According to DSM-IV TR and ICD-10, a diagnosis of autism or Asperger Syndrome precludes a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, despite the different conceptualization, population-based twin studies reported symptom overlap, and a recent epidemiologically based study reported a high rate of ADHD in autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the planned revision of the DSM-IV TR, dsm5 (www.dsm5.org), the diagnoses of autistic disorder and ADHD will not be mutually exclusive any longer. This provides the basis of more differentiated studies on overlap and distinction between both disorders. This review presents data on comorbidity rates and symptom overlap and discusses common and disorder-specific risk factors, including recent proteomic studies. Neuropsychological findings in the areas of attention, reward processing, and social cognition are then compared between both disorders, as these cognitive abilities show overlapping as well as specific impairment for one of both disorders. In addition, selective brain imaging findings are reported. Therapeutic options are summarized, and new approaches are discussed. The review concludes with a prospectus on open questions for research and clinical practice.

AS32-04 - To game or to gamble? a emirical comparison of predictors of computer game addiction and pathological gambling among adolescents

Excessive behaviors, especially among adolescents, have become a matter of growing concern und are discussed as non-substance-related addiction disorders. Epidemiological surveys show that especially computer game addiction and pathological gambling are to be regarded as widespread in minors, according to prevalence estimations up to 2.1% for pathological gambling and 2.7% for computer game addiction. Clinically many studies supported that both forms of behavioural addictions are related to remarkable psychosocial and psychopathological strain, like depressive symptoms and anxiety. However, research on disorder-specific risk factors still is limited. To address this uncertainty, a survey among a representative sample of 3967 German adolescents, aged between 12 and 18 years was conducted. Prevalence rates of both, pathological gambling and computer game addiction were calculated and supposed predisposing factors like affectivity, Violence Approving Norms, social insecurity, and self-efficacy were assessed.Prevalence for pathological gambling was 2.2% and 3.4% for addictive computer gaming. Further analyses show that there are rather similarities than discrepancies between both clinical groups, especially concerning heightened negative affectivity and social insecurity. However, it turned out that pathological gamblers revealed higher rates in Violent Approving norms and addicted computer gamers showed significantly diminished self-efficacy.The results point to similar etiopathological pathways, like affect-dysregulation for both investigated behavioural addictions in minors. Notwithstanding, some specific factors turned out to be primarily related to gambling resp. gaming.