Non-clinical Sample Of Adults Research Articles

A phenomenological investigation of women with Tourette or other chronic tic disorders

There are little data concerning clinical characteristics of women with Tourette disorder and chronic tic disorders in the extant literature and what is available mostly focuses on treatment-seeking individuals. The present research was conducted to provide a phenomenological characterization of tic disorders among 185 adult women with tic disorders. In addition to providing a descriptive overview of specific tic symptoms, tic severity, self-reported history of other psychiatric conditions, and impairment/lifestyle impact due to tics, this study compares 185 women and 275 men between 18 and 79 years old with tic disorders (who completed an identical battery of measures) based on demographic, social/economic status indicators, psychiatric variables (comorbidity, family psychiatric history, symptom presentation), adaptive functioning/quality of life, and impairment variables among a nonclinical adult sample. Finally, this research examines the relationship between tic severity and impairment indicators among women with tics. Sixty-eight percent of women in our sample reported severe motor tics and 40% reported severe phonic tics. Our exploratory data suggest that a sizeable number of adult women with persistent tics are suffering from psychiatric comorbidity and psychosocial consequences such as underachievement and social distress. Tic severity in women may be associated with lifestyle interference as well as with symptoms of depression and anxiety, and such symptoms may be more common among women with tics than in men with tics.

Mental state decoding abilities in young adults with borderline personality disorder traits.

Previous studies have demonstrated that patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) tend to misattribute malevolence to benign social stimuli, including facial expressions. Yet, facial emotion recognition studies examining those with BPD have yielded mixed results, with some studies showing impaired accuracy and others demonstrating enhanced accuracy in the recognition of emotions or mental states. The current study examined the ability to decode mental states from photographs of just the eye region of faces in a nonclinical sample of young adults who exhibited BPD traits (high BPD) compared with those who did not (low BPD). Group differences in mental state decoding ability depended on the valence of the stimuli. The high-BPD group performed better for negative stimuli compared with the low-BPD group, but did not perform significantly different from the low-BPD group for stimuli of neutral or positive valence. The high-BPD group also demonstrated a response bias for attributing negative mental states to facial stimuli. In addition, findings suggested that the group difference in accuracy for negative stimuli could not be explained by response bias, because the group difference in response bias for negative stimuli did not reach significance. These findings suggest that BPD traits may be associated with enhanced ability to detect negative emotions and a bias for attributing negative emotions to nonnegative social stimuli.

Different Types of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being in Relation to Personality and Subjective Well-Being

In this study the authors attempt to present different types of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (RSWB) and discuss their relation to personality and psychological well-being. The Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being 48 is employed for this study, which consists of 6 subscales. To find different types of RSWB, an agglomerative cluster analysis on these subscales was performed based on the responses obtained in a nonclinical adult sample (n = 463). A 4-cluster solution was accepted. The clusters were labeled as Religious/Spiritual High, Religiously Oriented, Existentially Oriented, and Religious/Spiritual Low, and were found to be substantially related to Sense of Coherence (n = 263) and Six Factors of Personality (n = 200) in two different subsamples. By presenting a first empirical model for a 4-field typology of RSWB, we hope to further contribute to the ongoing discussion on how to deal with religious/spiritual issues in personality research.

Eysenck’s model of personality and psychopathological components in right- and left-handers

The link between handedness, personality, and psychopathology remains unclear. The objective of this study is to investigate in right- and left-handers the link between the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) scores and psychopathology status in a non-clinical sample of young adults. The EPQ, the Symptom Checklist 90 and the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory were completed by 84 normal young adults, 43 left-handers (20 males) and 41 right-handers (21 males). Canonical correlation analysis revealed that right-handers exhibited a positive association between the EPQ-neuroticism score and the symptom-fields of obsessive–compulsive, anxiety, depression and hostility. In left-handers, the EPQ-neuroticism score was positively associated with the symptom-fields of depression, psychoticism, paranoid ideation, anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, phobic anxiety, hostility, and somatisation. Additionally, right-handers showed a protective effect of the combination of high EPQ-extraversion with low EPQ-psychoticism on the development of four psychopathology symptom-fields, namely interpersonal sensitivity, depression, psychoticism, and obsessive–compulsive behavior. These findings suggest that personality patterns, such as high levels of neuroticism, in relationship to handedness may induce phenotypic psychopathological variations.

Can onset and recovery in depression be predicted by temperament? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Behavioural inhibition and more specifically harm avoidance temperament dimension (HA) has been found to be associated with depression. Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) by Cloninger et al. is the most widely used instrument in the assessment of temperament. The aims of the present study were to explore 1) if current or future depressive symptoms in non-clinical adult sample can be explained by TCI temperament dimensions, and 2) if recovery from major depression (MDD) during the acute phase of treatment is predictable by TCI temperament dimensions. Literature search from eight databases. Systematic review and meta-analysis. High HA was associated with current depressive symptoms in 11/12 studies and with depressive trait in 3/4 studies. In MDD studies, a consistent negative change in HA was found during treatment and this change was even more clearly associated with treatment response. The studies with general population samples were heterogeneous in methodology. Most of the intervention studies were of case-control design. HA is indisputably associated with the risk and treatment response in depression.

‘Bright side’ and ‘dark side’ hypomania are associated with differences in psychological functioning, sleep and physical activity in a non-clinical sample of young adults

BackgroundNo research has yet focused on hypomanic states in non-clinical early adult populations. The aim of the present study was therefore to assess hypomania in a large non-clinical sample of young adults. MethodsA total of 862 participants (639 females and 223 males; mean age: M=24.67; SD=5.91) took part in the study. They completed a series of validated self-report questionnaires assessing hypomania (HCL-32) and other aspects of psychological functioning, sleep, stress, quality of life, cognitive–emotional elaboration of pain, self-efficacy, and physical activity. ResultsBased on the HCL-32, 19% of the participants (n=169) were categorized as currently being in a hypomanic state. Of those, 57.6% were classified as “active/elated” (‘bright side’), whereas 42.4% were classified as “irritable/risk-taking” (‘dark side’). Compared to non-hypomanic participants and the ‘bright side’ group, ‘dark side’ hypomanic participants reported more depressive symptoms, sleep disturbances, somatic complaints, perceived stress, negative coping strategies, and lower self-efficacy. By contrast, ‘bright side’ hypomanic participants had lower stress scores, more positive self-instructions, and higher levels of exploration, self-efficacy, and physical activity. LimitationsA cross-sectional design was adopted, assessing university students, who may not be representative of the stage of early adulthood. ConclusionsThe present results underscore the notion of a continuity between a mood state and both favorable (‘bright side’) and unfavorable (‘dark side’) hypomanic states. In early adulthood, ‘bright’ and ‘dark side’ hypomania differs with respect to physical activity, psychological functioning and sleep.

Correlates of Cutting Behavior among Sexual Minority Youths and Young Adults

Using secondary analyses of data from a sample of 265 sexual minority youths, the authors examined correlates of to determine whether patterns are similar to those found in studies of with community samples of predominately heterosexual youths. The sample consisted of youths who received services at an urban social service agency serving the sexual minority community; youths from the region attending social events, who located the survey through the Internet, or who were referred from other youth-serving agencies; and youths from out of state who found the survey through the Internet or were referred by youth-serving agencies. Prevalence of was higher than that found in community-based samples of similar age groups. However, similar patterns of risk were found with regard to peer victimization, homelessness, suicidality, and depression. Female and transgender respondents were more likely to have engaged in than were male respondents. No significant race-based differences emerged. Both age and having knowledge of a supportive adult were associated with decreased likelihood of cutting. Additional findings link higher levels of outness, higher occurrence of suicidality among social network, and higher rates of smoking to increased likelihood of cutting. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. KEY WORDS: cutting; gay; lesbian; nonsuicidal self-injury; transgender ********** Historically, nonsuicidal research has focused on adult populations, on populations that experience developmental disabilities or psychoses, or on clinical samples (Brodsky, Cloitre, & Dulit, 1995).Although rates of have been increasing over the past few decades among the adolescent population (Brener, Krug, & Simon, 2000; Briere & Gil, 1998), it is only more recently that attention has turned to examining NSSI among this population (Prinstein, 2008). This study seeks to contribute to the knowledge about NSSI through analyses of secondary data in a number of ways. First, it examines the prevalence of among a nonclinical sample of sexual minority youths and young adults, a population of young people about which very little is known with regard to NSSI. Second, it examines correlates that predict to determine whether the emergent patterns mirror patterns found in NSSI research with other youths and young adult populations. Third, it examines a number of variables not currently explored in other literature with youths and adolescent populations. Finally, it examines what youths and young adults in the sample report as helping them resist urges to cut. NOMENCLATURE The language and definitions used in the literature to indicate intentional create confusion. A number of terms, including self-inflicted injury (Crowell et al., 2008; Welch, Linehan, Sylvers, Chittams, & Rizvi, 2008) and (Crawford, Geraghty, Street, & Simonoff, 2003), have been used to refer to a range of behaviors that encompass with and without suicidal intention. Research that has focused more specifically on with nonsuicidal intent has used terms such as self-injury (Simeon & Favazza, 2001),self-mutilation (Babiker & Arnold, 1997), and self-injurious behavior (Whitlock, Eckenrode, & Silverman, 2006; Whitlock & Knox, 2007). In this article, we use the term nonsuicidal (NSSI) (Armey & Crowther, 2008; Nock & Mendes, 2008) to indicate that occurs without the intent to die, and we use the term deliberate self-harm (DSH) to indicate that encompasses both NSSI and with suicidal intent. When the is even more narrowly defined, we use the specific term for that behavior, such as cutting or burning. …

Genetic factors of reaction time performance: DRD4 7-repeat allele associated with slower responses

Twin studies indicate substantial inherited components in cognitive abilities. One of the most extensively studied candidate genes of cognitive functioning is the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4), which has been suggested to be related to attentional disorders. Based on reaction time data of 245 Caucasians participating in different cognitive tasks, slower responses characterized the group with the 7-repeat allele. This effect was present in both sexes and was not because of fatigue. To our knowledge, this is the first report on significant association (P = 0.0001) between the DRD4 variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism and response latencies in a non-clinical adult sample. Other studied dopaminergic polymorphisms did not show an association with reaction time. These results illustrate that speed-of-performance measures derived from multiple reaction time tasks using standardization procedures could be promising tools to detect unique genetic effects in the background of cognitive abilities.

Biomarkers, population-based studies and a proof of principle investigation in pharmacotherapy

Dear colleagues, The current issue of the European Archivesof Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience offers a selection of key topics currently discussed in psychiatric research ranging from neurobiological findings to population-based as well as proof of principle studies. The term “biomarkers” is often not used properly in neuroscience as pointed out in the Letter to the Editors by Martins-de-Souza [1]. As outlined in this short article, there is an explosion of the term “biomarker”, which is often used for “a differentially expressed” protein discovered as potentially related to some disease in a small sample. The author suggests to be more cautious when using this term and instead suggests to use “potential biomarkers” or “biomarker candidate” as a better and clearer name. One of those fields with potential new biomarkers is the epidemiology of psychoses. Related to that, Steiner et al. [2] describe in their well-designed paper that in acute paranoid schizophrenia, there might well be reduced T-cell defense and a shift toward B-cell immunity, which normalizes in the response to treatment. Importantly, they point out that in addition to the disease stage or subtype of the illness medication, cigarette smoking and stress are important co-factors. Researching cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia has moved to test circuit-specific tasks in this disorder. The paper by Zilles et al. [3] moves this way identifying subgroups of patients with schizophrenia showing different patterns of selective deficits in working memory components. These deficits are present in tasks requiring only the maintenance of verbal or visuospatial information. In contrast to an obviously global working memory deficit, individual analysis revealed differential patterns of working memory impairments in subgroups of patients with schizophrenia. Trying to connect brain changes in major psychiatric disorders like depression with pathophysiological mechanisms is desired but difficult. Candidates for hippocampal volume reduction in depressed patients are the neurotrophic factors. Along these lines, Eker et al. [4] found a correlation of serum BDNF levels with hippocampal volumes in first-episode, medication-free depressed patients. This correlation could not be revealed in the control sample, and more interestingly, there was no significant volumetric difference between the depressed patients and the control subjects pointing to a very subtle volumetric change related to BDNF secretion. Subsequently, two studies were selected using large samples of healthy subjects. In the first study by Moraes et al. [5], the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was applied in a sample of 2,708 adults, aged 60 years and older. High scores on a depression scale, high scores on a memory complaints scale and low socioeconomic levels were associated with poorer performance on the MMSE. This underlines the importance of some sociodemographic and health variables influencing MMSE performance and furthermore pointing at the increasingly important trajectory between mood disorder and the later development of dementia. In the second study by Brand et al. [6], 862 participants completed a series of validated self-report questionnaires assessing sleep, quality of life, depressive symptoms and cognitive-emotional elaboration of pain. For this non-clinical sample of young adults, the bi-directional relation between poor sleep and increased cognitive-emotional elaboration of pain was proven. In an open proof of principle study by Perugi et al. [7], it was tested whether adjunctive valproate treatment might ameliorate panic disorder symptoms with a lifetime comorbid bipolar disorder or patients otherwise resistant to antidepressants. All patients were evaluated baseline and at least every three month and followed for a period of three years. According to the results, valproate seems to be an effective and a well-tolerated adjunctive treatment in panic disorder patients who are resistant to antidepressant therapy or have bipolar disorders in comorbidity. This supports the hypothesis that the resistance to antidepressants might well be related to mood instability.

The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale Is a Valid Measure of Alcohol Craving in Young Adults

Alcohol craving is associated with greater alcohol-related problems and less favorable treatment prognosis. The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) is the most widely used alcohol craving instrument. The OCDS has been validated in adults with alcohol use disorders (AUDs), which typically emerge in early adulthood. This study examines the validity of the OCDS in a nonclinical sample of young adults. Three hundred and nine college students (mean age of 21.8 years, SD = 4.6 years) completed the OCDS, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and measures of alcohol consumption. Subjects were randomly allocated to 2 samples. Construct validity was examined via exploratory factor analysis (n = 155) and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 154). Concurrent validity was assessed using the AUDIT and measures of alcohol consumption. A second, alcohol-dependent sample (mean age 42 years, SD 12 years) from a previously published study (n = 370) was used to assess discriminant validity. A unique young adult OCDS factor structure was validated, consisting of Interference/Control, Frequency of Obsessions, Alcohol Consumption and Resisting Obsessions/Compulsions. The young adult 4-factor structure was significantly associated with the AUDIT and alcohol consumption. The 4 factor OCDS successfully classified nonclinical subjects in 96.9% of cases and the older alcohol-dependent patients in 83.7% of cases. Although the OCDS was able to classify college nonproblem drinkers (AUDIT <13, n = 224) with 83.2% accuracy, it was no better than chance (49.4%) in classifying potential college problem drinkers (AUDIT score ≥13, n = 85). Using the 4-factor structure, the OCDS is a valid measure of alcohol craving in young adult populations. In this nonclinical set of students, the OCDS classified nonproblem drinkers well but not problem drinkers. Studies need to further examine the utility of the OCDS in young people with alcohol misuse.

Toward a More Psychometrically Sound Brief Measure of Schizotypal Traits: Introducing the SPQ-Brief Revised

Psychometric case identification of individuals at risk for developing schizophrenia-spectrum disorders is an important enterprise. Unfortunately, current instruments for this purpose are limited. The present studies sought to improve the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-Brief), a measure of schizotypal traits that has come under recent criticism. In the first study, we conducted exploratory factor analysis on the SPQ-Brief using a Likert-style scoring format in a large sample of nonclinical adults. Although acceptable internal consistency was found, the original factor structure was not supported. In the second study, we administered the full version of the SPQ to a separate large nonclinical adult sample and employed exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to identify critical items that could be used to revise the SPQ-Brief. The end product of these studies is the SPQ-Brief Revised, which offers a subordinate seven-factor and super-ordinate three or four factor solution, employs a Likert-scale format to improve sensitivity, and is brief (34 items).

Suppressing the white bears interacts with anxiety sensitivity in the prediction of mood and anxiety symptoms

Suppression is a commonly used strategy to manage unwanted thoughts by attempting to actively remove them from awareness. However, research has shown that this cognitive strategy often results in the paradoxical effect of increasing the frequency of unwanted thoughts. While the association between thought suppression and mood and anxiety symptoms has been repeatedly demonstrated, relations between this cognitive strategy and other anxiety risk factors such as anxiety sensitivity (AS) are unexplored. Using a nonclinical sample of young adults ( N = 414), the current investigation sought to more thoroughly investigate the association between AS and thought suppression as well as explore their synergistic effect on anxiety symptomatology. As hypothesized, thought suppression and AS were positively associated. Moreover, AS and thought suppression interacted to predict elevated levels of panic and obsessive compulsive symptomatology.

The relation between sleep and pain among a non-clinical sample of young adults

Poor sleep is linked to poorer daily functioning and increased risk of psychiatric symptoms. With respect to pain, the relation is bi-directional; poor sleep exacerbates pain, while greater pain adversely affects sleep. Moreover, perception of pain is subject to cognitive-emotional processes. Surprisingly, no data are available from non-clinical samples of young adults. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the relation between sleep and pain as a function of quality of life and depressive symptoms in young adults. The direction of influence between sleep and pain was statistically tested with two different structural equation models (SEMs). A total of 862 participants (639 women, 223 men; mean age: 24.67; SD = 5.91) completed a series of validated self-report questionnaires assessing sleep, quality of life, depressive symptoms and cognitive-emotional elaboration of pain. Sleep, pain, quality of life, and depressive symptoms were interrelated. The first SEM suggested both a direct and an indirect influence of pain on sleep, whereas the second SEM suggested that sleep had only an indirect influence on pain. Irrespective of the SEM, the relation between sleep and cognitive-emotional elaboration of pain was mediated by quality of life and depressive symptoms. For a non-clinical sample of young adults, findings did support the bi-directional relation between poor sleep and increased cognitive-emotional elaboration of pain, though other cognitive-emotional processes such as depressive symptoms and quality of life should be taken into account.

Mood and personality-based models of substance use.

Mood and personality-based vulnerabilities have been extensively examined in patients with substance use disorders, but their relevance as models of etiology remains to be fully investigated. The present investigation examined mood and personality-based models of substance use in a nonclinical sample of young adults. Two-hundred and twelve individuals were assessed for personality and clinical characteristics and participated in computerized ambulatory monitoring of mood states and substance use over a 1-week period. Personality factors were strong predictors of substance use frequency over the previous 30 days, as well as of substance use in daily life using ambulatory monitoring. A linear increase was also observed in the intensity of novelty seeking and antisocial personality traits as a function of the social deviance of substances used. However, mood disorder history was related only to the use of illicit drugs other than cannabis, and fluctuations in mood states did not prospectively predict daily use of substances in a manner consistent with self-medication. Moreover, there was little evidence that personality characteristics moderated relations between mood states and substance use in daily life. The relevance of results for mood and personality models of substance use etiology is discussed.

Adult attachment, personality traits, and borderline personality disorder features in young adults.

Previous studies have demonstrated that insecure attachment patterns and a trait disposition toward negative affect and impulsivity are both associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD) features. According to attachment theory, insecure attachment patterns impart greater risk for the maladaptive personality traits underlying BPD. Hence, insecure attachment might be indirectly related to BPD through its association with these traits. The current cross-sectional study used structural equation modeling to compare two competing models of the relationship between adult attachment patterns, trait negative affect and impulsivity, and BPD features in a large nonclinical sample of young adults: (M1) attachment anxiety and avoidance are positively related to trait negative affect and impulsivity, which in turn, are directly associated with BPD features; and (M2) trait negative affect and impulsivity are positively related to attachment anxiety and avoidance, which in turn, are directly associated with BPD features. Consistent with attachment theory, M1 provided a better fit to the data than M2. However, only attachment anxiety, and not attachment avoidance, was significantly associated with negative affect and impulsivity. The results favored a model in which the relationship between adult attachment anxiety and BPD features is fully mediated by trait negative affect and impulsivity.

Quality of life across the schizotypy spectrum: findings from a large nonclinical adult sample

Objective It is well documented that patients with schizophrenia have impoverished quality of life (QOL). Efforts to determine the underpinnings of this impoverishment have implicated negative symptoms more than positive or disorganized symptoms. However, only a minority of individuals with the liability to schizophrenia will ever show manifest illness, and it is presently unclear the degree to which QOL is affected in individuals with subclinical symptoms of the disorder (ie, schizotypy). The present study examined the relative contributions of negative, positive, and disorganized schizotypy symptoms to QOL. Methods Measures of schizotypal symptoms and subjective and objective QOL were obtained from a sample of 1395 adults. Results Measures of schizotypal symptoms significantly corresponded to all measures of QOL, although the magnitude of correlations were significantly larger for subjective than objective measures. The negative symptom dimension explained a substantial portion of unique variance in the social domains of QOL above and beyond that accounted for by the other schizotypy dimensions. Conclusions These findings highlight the deleterious impact of schizotypal symptoms, particularly negative symptoms. Further research clarifying the mechanism underlying this relationship is called for.

A confirmatory factor analysis of the Beck Anxiety Inventory in African American and European American young adults

The anxiety literature is particularly sparse as it relates to African Americans, and there are few studies to date that have examined the factor structure of anxiety assessment tools within this population. The current study investigated the original two-factor structure of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) in addition to two extant factor structures of the BAI in a non-clinical sample of African American and European American young adults. One hundred twenty one European American and 100 African American young adults completed the BAI. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the previous factor structures of the Beck Anxiety Inventory do not provide the best fit for either the African American or the European American sample. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that an alternative, two-factor model provided the best fit for the sample, particularly for the African American sample. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Effects of Moderate-Intensity Exercise on Polysomnographic and Subjective Sleep Quality in Older Adults With Mild to Moderate Sleep Complaints

This study sought to determine the 12-month effects of exercise increases on objective and subjective sleep quality in initially inactive older persons with mild to moderate sleep complaints. A nonclinical sample of underactive adults 55 years old or older (n=66) with mild to moderate chronic sleep complaints were randomly assigned to a 12-month program of primarily moderate-intensity endurance exercise (n=36) or a health education control program (n=30). The main outcome measure was polysomnographic sleep recordings, with additional measures of subjective sleep quality, physical activity, and physical fitness. Directional hypotheses were tested. Using intent-to-treat methods, at 12 months exercisers, relative to controls, spent significantly less time in polysomnographically measured Stage 1 sleep (between-arm difference=2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.7-4.0; p=003), spent more time in Stage 2 sleep (between-arm difference=3.2, 95% CI, 0.6-5.7; p=.04), and had fewer awakenings during the first third of the sleep period (between-arm difference=1.0, 95% CI, 0.39-1.55; p=.03). Exercisers also reported greater 12-month improvements relative to controls in Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) sleep disturbance subscale score (p=.009), sleep diary-based minutes to fall asleep (p=.01), and feeling more rested in the morning (p=.02). Compared with general health education, a 12-month moderate-intensity exercise program that met current physical activity recommendations for older adults improved some objective and subjective dimensions of sleep to a modest degree. The results suggest additional areas for investigation in this understudied area.

Alexithymia and Somatization in General Population

Even though the association between alexithymia and somatization seems plausible according to several studies with selected populations, it has not been verified in carefully controlled and nationally representative population studies. We conducted such a study to find out whether alexithymia is associated with somatization at population level. This study was a part of the Finnish Health 2000 Study. The nationally representative sample comprised 5129 subjects aged 30 to 97 years. Alexithymia was measured with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and somatic symptom reporting with the 12-item somatization scale derived from the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Sociodemographic and health-related variables, including depressive and anxiety disorders, and physician verified somatic diagnoses, were treated as confounders in multivariate analyses. Alexithymia was associated with somatization independently of somatic diseases, depression and anxiety and confounding sociodemographic variables. The TAS-20 factor scale "Difficulties Identifying Feelings" was the strongest common denominator between alexithymia and somatization. This was the first time the independent association between alexithymia and somatization was established in a large, nationally representative nonclinical sample of both young and old adults with and without mental disorders and somatic diseases.

The Nature and Extent of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in a Non-Clinical Sample of Young Adults

This study aimed to examine the nature, extent and correlates of non-suicidal self injury (NSSI) in a non-clinical sample of young adults. Two hundred and eleven participants (18–30 years) completed self-report questionnaires assessing history of NSSI, emotional regulation, coping strategies, symptoms of psychopathology, and alcohol use. Of the sample, 43.6% reported engaging in NSSI; approximately 10% engaged in moderate/severe NSSI. Those that reported NSSI reported greater psychopathology, avoidant coping and alcohol use than those who did not self-injure. The extent of these differences was magnified as the severity of NSSI increased. These findings highlight the need to consider any form of NSSI, no matter how mild, as an indication of distress and ineffective coping.