Predicted Group Differences Research Articles

18-month trajectories of delusional dimensions in young adults: Relationship with reasoning biases and worry.

It has been argued that what differentiates delusional ideation from full-blown delusions (indicating need for care) is not the number of beliefs, but the experiential dimensions such as conviction, distress, and preoccupation. However, how these dimensions evolve over time and affect outcomes is under-researched. While delusional conviction and distress are associated with reasoning biases and worry respectively in clinical samples, how these processes predict trajectories of delusional dimensions in the general population remains unclear. Young adults (age 18-30) were screened for delusional ideation on the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory. Participants with at least one delusional ideation were randomly selected for a 4-wave assessment (6-month apart). Trajectories of delusional dimensions were separately identified by latent class growth analyses, then compared on baseline levels of jumping-to-conclusions bias, belief inflexibility, worry, and meta-worry. The longitudinal sample consisted of 356 individuals (drawn from a community sample of 2,187). For each of the three dimensions (conviction, distress, and preoccupation), four-group linear models were identified-high stable, moderate stable, moderate decreasing, and low stable. The high stable group exhibited worse emotional and functional outcomes at 18 months than the other three groups. Worry and meta-worry predicted group differences, and notably differentiated the moderate decreasing groups from the moderate stable groups. Contrary to hypothesis, jumping-to-conclusions bias was milder in the high/moderate stable groups than the low stable group for conviction. Distinct trajectories of delusional dimensions were predicted by worry and meta-worry. Differences between the decreasing and stable groups carried clinical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Does Useful Field of Vision Predict Attention While Driving Between Young and Older Adults?

The Insurance Information Institute (2017) reports drivers aged 65 and up are involved in the second highest rate of fatal car crashes. It is important that there is a fair and standardized assessment to test driving fitness. The prime objective was to assess the utility of the Useful Field of View (UFOV) across young and old groups to predict performance on a simulated driving exercise. Community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older (n=48) and students (n=48) recruited from an undergraduate research pool served as participants. They completed a series of demographic, health and cognitive measures, besides a Useful Field of Vison (UFOV) task and a driving simulation exercise. Results showed that collision avoidance and braking varied between age groups, with older adults appearing to be less likely to avoid collision (Older M = 12.46, SD = 10.25, Younger (M = 7.96, SD =4.92; n = 47), but quicker to brake (Older M = 3.64, SD = 3.41, Younger M = 9.79, SD =7.91). There were group differences for driving simulator performance, predicted by cognitive measures (Young; R2 = .099, p = 0.005; Old; R2 = 0.094, p = 0.038). UFOV scores did not predict group differences in driving simulator performance (Young; R2 = 0.009, p = 0.664; β = 0.089, p = 0.437) , (Older; R2 = 0.061, p = 0.522; UFOV-DA β = -0.074, p = 0.555; UFOV_SA β = 0.289, p = 0.194). These findings have implication for the development of pragmatic capacity to drive assessments.

Score-Guided Structural Equation Model Trees.

Structural equation model (SEM) trees are data-driven tools for finding variables that predict group differences in SEM parameters. SEM trees build upon the decision tree paradigm by growing tree structures that divide a data set recursively into homogeneous subsets. In past research, SEM trees have been estimated predominantly with the R package semtree. The original algorithm in the semtree package selects split variables among covariates by calculating a likelihood ratio for each possible split of each covariate. Obtaining these likelihood ratios is computationally demanding. As a remedy, we propose to guide the construction of SEM trees by a family of score-based tests that have recently been popularized in psychometrics (Merkle and Zeileis, 2013; Merkle et al., 2014). These score-based tests monitor fluctuations in case-wise derivatives of the likelihood function to detect parameter differences between groups. Compared to the likelihood-ratio approach, score-based tests are computationally efficient because they do not require refitting the model for every possible split. In this paper, we introduce score-guided SEM trees, implement them in semtree, and evaluate their performance by means of a Monte Carlo simulation.

Predominant polarity in bipolar I and II disorders: A five-year follow-up study.

Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) differ in their relative predominance of types of episodes, yielding predominant polarity, which has important treatment implications. However, few prospective studies of predominant polarity exist. In the Jorvi Bipolar Study (JoBS), a regionally representative cohort of 191 BD I and BD II in- and outpatients was followed for five years using life-chart methodology. Differences between depressive (DP), manic (MP), and no predominant polarity (NP) groups were examined regarding time ill, incidence of suicide attempts, and comorbidity. At baseline, 16% of patients had MP, 36% DP, and 48% NP. During the follow-up the MP group spent significantly more time euthymic, less time in major depressive episodes, and more time in manic states than the DP and NP groups. The MP group had significantly lower incidence of suicide attempts than the DP and NP group, lower prevalence of comorbid anxiety disorders but more psychotic symptoms lifetime and more often (hypo)manic first phase of the illness than the DP group. Classification of predominant polarity was influenced by the timeframe used. The retrospective counting of former phases is vulnerable to recall bias. Assignment of dominant polarity may necessitate a sufficient number of illness phases. Predominant polarity has predictive value in predicting group differences in course of illness, but individual patients' classification may change over time. Patients with manic polarity may represent a more distinct subgroup than the two others regarding illness course, suicide attempts, and psychiatric comorbidity.

The Shepard Illusion Is Reduced in Children With an Autism Spectrum Disorder Because of Perceptual Rather Than Attentional Mechanisms.

Earlier studies demonstrate reduced illusion strength in the Shepard illusion in adults and adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and in typically developing (TD) adults with high levels of autistic traits. We measured the strength of the Shepard illusion in ASD and TD children and tested if ten different eye-tracking measurements could predict group differences in illusion strength. The ASD children demonstrated reduced illusion strength relative to the TD group. Despite this, there were no mean differences on any of the eye-tracking measurements between groups. Even though none of the eye-tracking measurements revealed mean differences between the two groups, the degree to which spatial attention was directed toward the standard stimulus, as indexed by the number of saccades within and toward this stimulus, predicted the strength of the illusion in the overall sample. Furthermore, this active scanning of the standard stimulus was found to enhance illusion strength more strongly in the ASD than the TD group. Together, we conclude that scan patterns and the degree to which participants are able to shift between different locations in a visual scene did not account for group differences in illusion strength. Thus, the reduced strength of the Shepard illusion in ASD does not appear to be driven by how attention shifts or is spatially allocated. Rather, differences may relate instead to perceptual mechanisms that integrate visual information. Strategies that may aid ASD individuals to see this illusion more strongly could have them make even more eye movements within and between the stimuli presented in the illusion display.

Forecasting youth adjustment at age 15 from school readiness profiles at 54 months

ABSTRACTA person-oriented approach examined the extent to which patterns of school readiness across social and cognitive domains in 944 typically-developing 54-month-old children forecast academic achievement, social-emotional development, risk taking, and executive functioning at age 15. Prior work identified six distinct profiles of school readiness at 54 months that predicted group differences in achievement in first grade, as well as achievement and social-emotional outcomes in fifth grade. After controlling for demographics, early language skills, and home and school factors, the 54-month readiness profiles demonstrated different performance on risk-taking and executive function behaviors assessed at age 15. Children with attention problems at 54 months were most likely to believe that peers were engaging in risky behaviors and to have smoked more than 2 cigarettes by age 15. Children with low working memory and low to average social skills at 54 months were outperformed by their peers on working memory and executive function tasks at age 15. Results are discussed in terms of continuity in forms of developmental function.

Predicting group differences from the correlation of vectors

It has been proposed that a correlation between a vector of factor loadings of intelligence tests and a vector of group differences on these same tests (=correlation of vectors) indicate that the group difference is mainly in g. In the present simulation, we show that there is an inverse sigmoid association between the difference between population means on a latent variable and the correlation of vectors and that the appearance and precision of this association is moderated by sample size and the standard deviation of factor loadings. In high powered studies, a weak correlation of vectors would falsify, while a strong correlation would not be able to verify, a hypothesis about a sizeable difference between population means.

Loneliness and Anxiety Sensitivity: Understanding Behavioural Avoidance in the Lonely

The current study investigated the putative relationship between loneliness and anxiety sensitivity (AS. Socially embedded, normal, and lonely participants (N=308) completed 4 reliable and valid measures, Revised UCLA loneliness scale, the State- Trait Anxiety Inventory Trait scale (STAI-T), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), and Fear Questionnaire (FQ). A positive relationship between loneliness and AS was found. After controlling for trait anxiety, AS predicted group differences between the lonely and normal, however this difference was not found between the lonely and socially embedded groups. Avoidance produced a significant multivariate main effect but did not predict group differences after controlling for trait anxiety and AS. It was concluded that avoidance in lonely individuals may be due partially to an enhanced sensitivity to the physiological symptoms of anxiety (AS) elicited distinctively within social contexts. Future research utilising multidimensional models of loneliness and attachment measures are suggested.

Affective Differences Between Psychopathy Variants and Genders in Adjudicated Youth.

The present study used Model-Based Cluster analysis to identify primary and secondary psychopathy variants in a mixed-gender sample of 150 adjudicated adolescents (60 % male; M = 15.2 years old). Distinct primary and secondary psychopathy groups emerged and were entered into a structural equation path model for the purpose of predicting group differences in emotional experiences reported between youth assigned to each variant. Youth characterized by secondary psychopathy reported experiencing significantly more frequent and more intense negative affect than their primary psychopathy counterparts. Frequency and intensity of affect also mediated the association between psychopathy variants and symptoms of depression, in which the secondary psychopathy group endorsed significantly more symptoms of major depression than the primary psychopathy group. Overall, these results suggest that different causal processes and affective experiences may underlie distinct trajectories to primary and secondary psychopathy variants in adjudicated adolescents. As such, youths comprising the secondary subtype of psychopathy may be more aptly considered "callous and emotional," compared with the primary subtype who present as prototypically callous and unemotional.

Who Chooses Best? Explaining the Interactive Effect of Culture and Decision Maker on Children’s Intrinsic Motivation

In previous research, Asian Americans had higher levels of intrinsic motivation than European Americans when their mothers made choices for them. However, European Americans had higher levels of intrinsic motivation than Asian Americans when they made choices for themselves. We attempted to explain this effect by examining cultural differences in social perceptions of the choice situation in two studies. Study 1 found that feelings of closeness with parents and beliefs about who has better long-term foresight mediated the predicted group differences in intrinsic motivation in a parent-choice condition when comparing Indian and Chinese undergraduates with European American undergraduates. However, perceptions of how acceptable it is for the decision maker to make the choice mediated group differences in intrinsic motivation in a personal-choice condition. Although there were some exceptions, Study 2 generally replicated these findings in a comparison of Indian and European American undergraduates, and showed that cultural differences in beliefs about how accurately the decision maker knows and takes into account the participants’ immediate preferences played an additional mediating role in the personal-choice condition, as did personal foresight. These studies suggest that cultural differences in how children construe decision making affect the relationship of such decision making to resultant intrinsic motivation.

Quiet Eye Distinguishes Children of High and Low Motor Coordination Abilities

This is the first study to use the quiet eye (QE) as an objective measure of visuomotor control underpinning proficiency differences in children's motor coordination. Fifty-seven, year 5 primary school children (9-10 yr old) completed the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (MABC-2), while wearing a gaze registration system. Participants were subsequently divided into one of three ability groups: high motor coordination (HMC), median motor coordination (MMC), and low motor coordination (LMC) based on these MABC-2 scores (mean % rank: HMC = 84%, MMC = 51%, LMC = 19%). QE analyses were performed for the fourth task of the MABC-2, which involved throwing a tennis ball against a wall and catching it on the return. The HMC group was more successful in the catching task than both other groups (catching percentage: HMC = 92%, MMC = 62%, LMC = 35%) and demonstrated superior visuomotor control throughout the throwing and catching phases of the task. Compared with the other groups, the HMC group demonstrated longer targeting QE fixations before the release of the ball (HMC = 500 ms, MMC = 410 ms, LMC = 260 ms) and longer tracking QE durations before catching (HMC = 260 ms, MMC = 200 ms, LMC = 150 ms). There were no significant differences in ball flight time between the groups. Mediation analyses revealed that only the duration of the tracking QE predicted group differences in catching ability. Findings suggest that the ability to predict and calibrate movements based on sensory feedback may be impaired in children with movement coordination difficulties and have implications for how they are taught fundamental movement skills.

Word Recognition for Temporally and Spectrally Distorted Materials

The purpose of Experiment 1 was to measure word recognition in younger adults with normal hearing when speech or babble was temporally or spectrally distorted. In Experiment 2, older listeners with near-normal hearing and with hearing loss (for pure tones) were tested to evaluate their susceptibility to changes in speech level and distortion types. The results across groups and listening conditions were compared to assess the extent to which the effects of the distortions on word recognition resembled the effects of age-related differences in auditory processing or pure-tone hearing loss. In Experiment 1, word recognition was measured in 16 younger adults with normal hearing using Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 words in quiet and the Words-in-Noise test distorted by temporal jittering, spectral smearing, or combined jittering and smearing. Another 16 younger adults were evaluated in four conditions using the Words-in-Noise test in combinations of unaltered or jittered speech and unaltered or jittered babble. In Experiment 2, word recognition in quiet and in babble was measured in 72 older adults with near-normal hearing and 72 older adults with hearing loss in four conditions: unaltered, jittered, smeared, and combined jittering and smearing. For the listeners in Experiment 1, word recognition was poorer in the distorted conditions compared with the unaltered condition. The signal to noise ratio at 50% correct word recognition was 4.6 dB for the unaltered condition, 6.3 dB for the jittered, 6.8 dB for the smeared, 6.9 dB for the double-jitter, and 8.2 dB for the combined jitter-smear conditions. Jittering both the babble and speech signals did not significantly reduce performance compared with jittering only the speech. In Experiment 2, the older listeners with near-normal hearing and hearing loss performed best in the unaltered condition, followed by the jitter and smear conditions, with the poorest performance in the combined jitter-smear condition in both quiet and noise. Overall, listeners with near-normal hearing performed better than listeners with hearing loss by ~30% in quiet and ~6 dB in noise. In the quiet distorted conditions, when the level of the speech was increased, performance improved for the hearing loss group, but decreased for the older group with near-normal hearing. Recognition performance of younger listeners in the jitter-smear condition and the performance of older listeners with near-normal hearing in the unaltered conditions were similar. Likewise, the performance of older listeners with near-normal hearing in the jitter-smear condition and the performance of older listeners with hearing loss in the unaltered conditions were similar. The present experiments advance our understanding regarding how spectral or temporal distortions of the fine structure of speech affect word recognition in older listeners with and without clinically significant hearing loss. The Speech Intelligibility Index was able to predict group differences, but not the effects of distortion. Individual differences in performance were similar across all distortion conditions with both age and hearing loss being implicated. The speech materials needed to be both spectrally and temporally distorted to mimic the effects of age-related differences in auditory processing and hearing loss.

An initial evaluation of the role of emotion and impulsivity in explaining racial/ethnic differences in the use of corporal punishment.

The authors sought to provide an initial evaluation of the hypothesis that corporal punishment is less strongly associated with parental emotion and impulsivity among African American ("Black") in contrast to European American ("White") parents. White-Latino and Black-Latino differences in corporal punishment, emotion, and impulsivity were explored, given the lack of existing theory predicting group differences. Couples with 3- to 7-year-old children were recruited via random digit dialing, and the parents completed questionnaires and an analog parent-child conflict task in the laboratory. Group differences were tested pooling mothers and fathers via dyadic data analyses. Black parents (N = 57) had more positive attitudes toward and used more corporal punishment than White parents (N = 730). Latino American parents' (N = 78) views and use of corporal punishment were similar to those of White parents. By and large, associations of corporal punishment with parents' impulsivity and emotion did not significantly vary by race/ethnicity. The present findings, although preliminary, do not support the emotion-impulsivity hypothesis of racial differences in the use of corporal punishment suggested by K. Deater-Deckard, K. A. Dodge, J. E. Bates, and G. S. Pettit (1996).

Component Processes Subserving Rapid Automatized Naming in Dyslexic and Non‐dyslexic Readers

The current study investigated which time components of rapid automatized naming (RAN) predict group differences between dyslexic and non-dyslexic readers (matched for age and reading level), and how these components relate to different reading measures. Subjects performed two RAN tasks (letters and objects), and data were analyzed through a response time analysis. Our results demonstrated that impaired RAN performance in dyslexic readers mainly stem from enhanced inter-item pause times and not from difficulties at the level of post-access motor production (expressed as articulation rates). Moreover, inter-item pause times account for a significant proportion of variance in reading ability in addition to the effect of phonological awareness in the dyslexic group. This suggests that non-phonological factors may lie at the root of the association between RAN inter-item pauses and reading ability. In normal readers, RAN performance was associated with reading ability only at early ages (i.e. in the reading-matched controls), and again it was the RAN inter-item pause times that explain the association.

Parental Marital Discord and Treatment Response in Depressed Adolescents

Evidence suggests that parental marital discord contributes to the development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Few studies, however, have examined the association between parental marital discord and youth's response to treatment. The present study examined the impact of interparental discord on treatment response in a randomized control trial of adolescents with major depression enrolled in the Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS). Participants were 260 adolescents from two-parent households randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: fluoxetine (FLX), cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), their combination (COMB), or placebo (PBO). Logistic regressions revealed that parental marital discord interacted with youth gender and co-morbid oppositionality symptoms to predict group differences in treatment response.

Can The Future-Oriented Nature of Worry be Experimentally Manipulated? The Effects of Personally Relevant Worry and Video-Related Imagery following Exposure to a Distressing Video

In an attempted experimental manipulation of the future-oriented property of worry, a total of 174 college students were randomly assigned to one of five experimental conditions. After all participants viewed a distressing video, they were instructed to worry about a personally relevant topic while constraining their worry to outcomes that could occur within the next 15 minutes, within the next week, or within the next year, or they worried about a personally relevant topic without such a time constraint or engaged in imagery of the video. Predicted group differences in state anxiety reduction were not found, although this effect approached statistical significance (p = .07). Contrary to our prediction, the imagery group reported more subsequent video-related cognitive intrusions than the worry groups and no differences between the worry groups were found. Results suggest that worry about everyday concerns may effectively distract some individuals from previously experienced emotionally distressing material.

P.3.e.007 Polarity of the first episode and predominant polarity in a cohort of bipolar outpatients

Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) differ in their relative predominance of types of episodes, yielding predominant polarity, which has important treatment implications. However, few prospective studies of predominant polarity exist.In the Jorvi Bipolar Study (JoBS), a regionally representative cohort of 191 BD I and BD II in- and outpatients was followed for five years using life-chart methodology. Differences between depressive (DP), manic (MP), and no predominant polarity (NP) groups were examined regarding time ill, incidence of suicide attempts, and comorbidity.At baseline, 16% of patients had MP, 36% DP, and 48% NP. During the follow-up the MP group spent significantly more time euthymic, less time in major depressive episodes, and more time in manic states than the DP and NP groups. The MP group had significantly lower incidence of suicide attempts than the DP and NP group, lower prevalence of comorbid anxiety disorders but more psychotic symptoms lifetime and more often (hypo)manic first phase of the illness than the DP group. Classification of predominant polarity was influenced by the timeframe used.The retrospective counting of former phases is vulnerable to recall bias. Assignment of dominant polarity may necessitate a sufficient number of illness phases.Predominant polarity has predictive value in predicting group differences in course of illness, but individual patients’ classification may change over time. Patients with manic polarity may represent a more distinct subgroup than the two others regarding illness course, suicide attempts, and psychiatric comorbidity.

Early risk indicators of substance abuse among nurses.

To investigate early risk factors that led to substance-related disorders and to predict group differences between substance-impaired (SI) and nonimpaired (NI) registered nurses. Donovan's multifactorial model of impairment, and Rogers' Science of Unitary Human Beings. Data were gathered from 100 previously SI and 100 NI nurses located through use of the Internet. Three questionnaires were used: the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (ZSSS), the Efinger Alcohol Risk Survey (EARS), and the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST). Independent t-test scores showed the two groups differed significantly on all three instruments' total scores. Discriminate analysis indicated a correct prediction of 87% for SI and 95% for NI nurses, with an overall rate of 91%. EARS scores were the best predictor of nurses with substance-related disorders (.99), followed by ZSSS (.44) and CAST (.42) scores. The three variables indicate early risk factors for substance-abuse impairment. Identification of nurses at risk for impairment will allow for earlier intervention and possible prevention. Methods to reduce the number of modifiable risk factors are recommended.

Categorizing partner-violent men within the reactive–proactive typology model.

A system for categorizing partner-violent men as either reactive or proactive aggressors was developed and evaluated in the present study. Sixty partner-violent men were reliably categorized, and the distribution (62% reactive, 38% proactive) fell within the expected range. Some construct validity was demonstrated, as several significant predicted group differences were found on factors of theoretical relevance to the typology model (affectivity, personality, and violence in the family-of-origin). Proactively versus reactively categorized participants were (a) more dominant and less angry during a 10-min interpartner interaction, (b) more antisocial and aggressive-sadistic and less dependent, and (c) more frequently classified as psychopathic (17% vs. 0%). Research and clinical implications of the system are discussed, as is the potential overlap between the reactively and proactively categorized partner-violent men in this study with previously identified types.

An examination of individual differences in the relationship between interpersonal stress and disease activity among women with rheumatoid arthritis.

The effects of interpersonal stress on disease activity were examined for married women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who differ in the quality of their relationships with their spouses. Measures of interpersonal events were collected weekly for 12 weeks and related to disease activity through a comparison of clinician ratings and immune markers taken at baseline and during a highly stressful week for 20 RA patients. Individual differences in marital relationship variables and illness characteristics were used to predict group differences in how stress affected disease activity. Significant elevations in total T cell activation (DR + CD3 cells), soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R), and clinician's global ratings of disease activity were found during a week of significant interpersonal stress. However, women with better spousal relationships did not show increases in disease activity following an episode of interpersonal stress. In addition, patients taking low-dose prednisone showed greater reactivity to stress than patients not currently using glucocorticoid treatment. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that disease activity in RA increases following increases in interpersonal stress and that women with stronger marital relationships were less vulnerable to those stressors.