Subtypes Of Behavior Research Articles

Permission-Based Separation Logic for Multithreaded Java Programs

This paper presents a program logic for reasoning about multithreaded Java-like programs with dynamic thread creation, thread joining and reentrant object monitors. The logic is based on concurrent separation logic. It is the first detailed adaptation of concurrent separation logic to a multithreaded Java-like language. The program logic associates a unique static access permission with each heap location, ensuring exclusive write accesses and ruling out data races. Concurrent reads are supported through fractional permissions. Permissions can be transferred between threads upon thread starting, thread joining, initial monitor entrancies and final monitor exits. In order to distinguish between initial monitor entrancies and monitor reentrancies, auxiliary variables keep track of multisets of currently held monitors. Data abstraction and behavioral subtyping are facilitated through abstract predicates, which are also used to represent monitor invariants, preconditions for thread starting and postconditions for thread joining. Value-parametrized types allow to conveniently capture common strong global invariants, like static object ownership relations. The program logic is presented for a model language with Java-like classes and interfaces, the soundness of the program logic is proven, and a number of illustrative examples are presented.

Measuring Subtypes of Emotion Regulation: From Broad Behavioural Skills to Idiosyncratic Meaning-making.

The current paper introduces the notion of clinically relevant subtypes of emotion regulation behaviours. A new measure of emotion regulation, the Complexity of Emotional Regulation Scale (CERS), was established as psychometrically sound. It was positively correlated with a measure of emotional awareness (r = 0.28, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with measures of self-criticism (r = -0.28, p < 0.001) and depression (r = -0.35, p = 0.025), among others. Participants were drawn from two samples: clients from a university counselling centre and a non-clinical student sample. Comparisons were conducted between non-clinical and clinical samples to determine the effects of depression and other symptoms of psychopathology on participant's generation of strategies for emotion regulation. Participants in the clinical sample more often identified an intention to soothe but did not follow through as compared with the non-clinical group, F(1, 198) = 4.662, p < 0.04. Furthermore, individuals in the non-clinical sample were more likely to engage in specific, meaning-making strategies when compared with the clinical group, F(1, 198) = 5.875, p < 0.02. Implications from the current studies suggest the possible applicability of the CERS to clinical settings using an interview rather than questionnaire format. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Emotion regulation should be thought of as being on a continuum of complexity, where strategies range from general ('one size fits all') action to specific ('personal and idiosyncratic') meaning. The best emotion regulation strategy depends on a client's presenting difficulty and level of distress.

Sarcoidosis Presenting As Late‐Onset Dementia: Are Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers Analyses Helpful?

To the Editor: Neurosarcoidosis is uncommon in elderly adults1 and is strongly associated with dementia.2 Biopsy of the central nervous system (CNS) is usually required to confirm the diagnosis.3 The case of a 71-year-old man with rapidly progressive onset of memory deficit and finally with signs of dementia syndrome, apathetic state, and abrupt weight loss (20 kg) is reported. His medical history was positive for high blood pressure and depression. Initial physical examination demonstrated bilateral Babinski signs, and initial cognitive assessment revealed a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 23 that rapidly declined to 9. Executive disorder and storage memory deficit were also initially noticed. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain showed minor hyperintense white matter lesions at T2, with an irregular aspect of the cerebral gyri and microbleeding next to the frontal horn of the lateral ventricle. Ethylcysteinate dimer enhanced single-photon emission computed tomography of the brain showed hypoperfusion in frontal lobes. With subsequent imaging and biological findings (Table 1) indicating systemic sarcoidosis, bronchial biopsy revealed an epithelial and giant cell inflammatory granuloma (EGG) without caseous necrosis.1 Rapid improvement of cognitive function and general health status (weight gain and partial regression of the apathetic state) was observed with cortiosteroid theraphy (1 mg/kg per day). The cortiosteroid theraphy dose was reduced to 0.5 mg/kg per day and maintained. The diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis was made based on the above-mentioned findings, which matched the diagnostic criteria for probable neurosarcoidosis.3 Thus, clinical findings, cognitive profile, laboratory test results supporting CNS inflammation (high cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein levels, presence of oligoclonal band), and pathology-confirmed systemic sarcoidosis (EGG), were compatible with the diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis. With no leptomeningeal or cerebral parenchyma damage, which would have been biopsied, there was no indication for brain biopsy. Unspecific brain imaging results do not exclude a diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis.4 Abnormalities of the white matter detected using computed tomography and degenerative changes affecting the perivascular spaces or the brain parenchyma in the form of small granulomas have been described in biopsy material.5 The microbleeding might also have been related to neurosarcoidosis in the present case.6 Additional support for the diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis was discovered. Over the following 44 months, the situation continued to improve while cortiosteroid theraphy was progressively reduced and finally stopped. Although he returned to independence in activities of daily living with stimulation (but not in instrumental activities of daily living), his cognitive deficit persisted (MMSE score 15). He was able to perform a description task from the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination 7 and to read a text and the time on a clock, but his verbal fluency was poor, as well as his results on the Frontal Assessment Battery (5/18). In addition, some verbal (utterances repeated multiple times such as inappropriate laughter) and gestural (rubbing hands together; rubbing the face) stereotypies appeared and become almost permanent. He no longer exhibited disinhibited or aggressive behavior, but apathy persisted. The combination of a dementia syndrome of degenerative origin such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and pulmonary sarcoidosis could not be excluded.8 Normal CSF cytology does not exclude neurosarcoidosis, and positive oligoclonal bands are seen in at least 19% of neurosarcoidosis cases.9 Although FTD, which is a neurodegenerative disease with different behavioral subtypes, might easily explain the apathy and hypoperfusion in the frontal lobes, the inflammation and continuing improvement with corticotherapy are not consistent with this diagnosis. Moreover, during follow-up, as shown in Table 1, repeated measurements of CSF biomarkers at Months 3, 17, 21, and 27 showed variations in Tau and PhosphoTau-181 protein levels with subsequent normalization, whereas Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42 levels remained abnormal. Although these CSF biomarker levels demonstrated acute cerebral stress and alteration of β-amyloid clearance, normalization of Tau and PhosphoTau-181 were not indicative of Alzheimer's disease and even contributed to the exclusion of this diagnosis10 and of FTD.11 Variations in CSF biomarkers were relevant for determining the differential diagnosis between FTD with pulmonary sarcoidosis and sequelae of neurosarcoidosis with symptoms mimicking, which was the case here. In the present clinical case, the variation in CSF biomarkers levels probably indicates brain tissue damage associated with the inflammatory process. If this raises interest in measuring CSF biomarkers for the diagnosis of rapidly progressing non-Alzheimer's dementia syndromes, further studies are necessary to better interpret value variations in Aβ1–40, Aβ1–42, Tau and PhosphoTau-181 proteins, although the measurement of CSF biomarkers would never replace pathological analysis of the brain tissue to confirm the origin of cognitive disorders. Conflict of Interest: None of the authors has any conflict of interest to declare. Author Contributions: MK, POL, RC, OB, TV, and GK wrote the manuscript. Sponsor's Role: There was no sponsor for this manuscript.

Supplemental Material for Early Starting, Aggressive, and/or Callous–Unemotional? Examining the Overlap and Predictive Utility of Antisocial Behavior Subtypes

Supplemental Material for Early Starting, Aggressive, and/or Callous–Unemotional? Examining the Overlap and Predictive Utility of Antisocial Behavior Subtypes

An examination of response variability in children with autism and the relationship to restricted repetitive behavior subtypes

The current study investigated response variability in children with autism and its relationship to restricted repetitive behaviors, one of the core symptoms of the disorder. The “Penny-Hiding Game” (Baron-Cohen, 1992) was used as a measure of response variability. Variability was compared for children with autism (n=65) and typically developing children (n=65) and patterns of response variability were categorized from least variable to most variable for both groups. For the participants with a diagnosis of autism, these patterns were examined relative to their scores on the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R; Bodfish, Symons, & Lewis, 1999). Results showed that children with autism demonstrated significantly lower variability in their responding in the “Penny-Hiding Game” than their typically developing peers. Variability was significantly negatively correlated with total RBS-R scores and with the Stereotypy subscale and the self-injurious behavior subscale, indicating that lower variability in responding was related to higher rates of these types of restricted and repetitive behaviors. No significant correlations were observed between variability and the Compulsion subscale, the Ritualistic/Sameness behaviors subscale or the Restricted Interests subscale.

A proof system for adaptable class hierarchies

The code base of a software system undergoes changes during its life time. For object-oriented languages, classes are adapted, e.g., to meet new requirements, customize the software to specific user functionalities, or refactor the code to reduce its complexity. However, the adaptation of class hierarchies makes reasoning about program behavior challenging; even classes in the middle of a class hierarchy can be modified. This paper develops a proof system for analyzing the effect of operations to adapt classes, in the context of method overriding and late bound method calls. The proof system is incremental in the sense that reverification is avoided for methods that are not explicitly changed by adaptations. Furthermore, the possible adaptations are not unduly restricted; i.e., flexibility is retained without compromising on reasoning control. To achieve this balance, we extend the mechanism of lazy behavioral subtyping, originally proposed for reasoning about inheritance when subclasses are added to a class hierarchy, to deal with the more general situation of adaptable class hierarchies and changing specifications. The reasoning system distinguishes guaranteed method behavior from requirements toward methods, and achieves incremental reasoning by tracking guarantees and requirements in adaptable class hierarchies. We show soundness of the proposed proof system.

Borderline personality features as a predictor of forms and functions of aggression during middle childhood: examining the roles of gender and physiological reactivity.

The present longitudinal investigation examined borderline personality features as a predictor of aggression 1 year later. Moderation by physiological reactivity and gender was also explored. One hundred ninety-six children (M = 10.11 years, SD = 0.64) participated in a laboratory stress protocol in which their systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance reactivity to recounting a relational stressor (e.g., threats to relationships or exclusion) were assessed. Teachers provided reports on subtypes of aggressive behavior (i.e., reactive relational, proactive relational, reactive physical, and proactive physical), and children completed a self-report measure of borderline personality features. Path analyses indicated that borderline personality features predicted increases in reactive relational aggression and proactive relational aggression among girls who evinced heightened physiological reactivity to interpersonal stress. In contrast, borderline personality features predicted decreases in proactive physical aggression in girls. Findings suggest that borderline personality features promote engagement in relationally aggressive behaviors among girls, particularly in the context of emotional dysregulation.

Viewing relational aggression through multiple lenses: temperament, personality, and personality pathology.

Dispositional trait frameworks offer great potential to elucidate the nature and development of psychopathology, including the construct of relational aggression. The present study sought to explore the dispositional context of relational aggression across three dispositional frameworks: temperament, personality, and personality pathology. Participants comprised a large community sample of youth, aged 6 to 18 years (N = 1,188; 51.2% female). Ratings of children's relational aggression, temperament, personality, and personality pathology traits were obtained through parent report (86.3% mothers). Results showed convergence and divergence across these three dispositional frameworks. Like other antisocial behavior subtypes, relational aggression generally showed connections with traits reflecting negative emotionality and poor self-regulation. Relational aggression showed stronger connections with temperament traits than with personality traits, suggesting that temperament frameworks may capture more relationally aggressive content. Findings at the lower order trait level help differentiate relational aggression from other externalizing problems by providing a more nuanced perspective (e.g., both sociability and shyness positively predicted relational aggression). In addition, there was little evidence of moderation of these associations by gender, age, or age2, and findings remained robust even after controlling for physical aggression. Results are discussed in the broader context of conceptualizing relational aggression in an overarching personality-psychopathology framework.

Dissecting impulsivity and its relationships to drug addictions

Addictions are often characterized as forms of impulsive behavior. That said, it is often noted that impulsivity is a multidimensional construct, spanning several psychological domains. This review describes the relationship between varieties of impulsivity and addiction-related behaviors, the nature of the causal relationship between the two, and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms that promote impulsive behaviors. We conclude that the available data strongly support the notion that impulsivity is both a risk factor for, and a consequence of, drug and alcohol consumption. While the evidence indicating that subtypes of impulsive behavior are uniquely informative--either biologically or with respect to their relationships to addictions--is convincing, multiple lines of study link distinct subtypes of impulsivity to low dopamine D2 receptor function and perturbed serotonergic transmission, revealing shared mechanisms between the subtypes. Therefore, a common biological framework involving monoaminergic transmitters in key frontostriatal circuits may link multiple forms of impulsivity to drug self-administration and addiction-related behaviors. Further dissection of these relationships is needed before the next phase of genetic and genomic discovery will be able to reveal the biological sources of the vulnerability for addiction indexed by impulsivity.

The externalizing spectrum in youth: Incorporating personality pathology

Although personality disorder characteristics are often grouped with externalizing problems in adults, little is known about the extent to which they define the externalizing spectrum in youth. We examined the extent to which personality pathology traits in youth reflected common and specific variance in externalizing problems and explored differentiation of these connections by age. Parents reported on physical aggression, rule-breaking, relational aggression, and personality pathology traits for 1080 youth (48.8% male) ages 6–18 years. Disagreeableness and emotional instability traits were correlated with a general externalizing factor as well as with specific behavioral subfactors. The magnitude of these correlations varied across age, with the highest magnitude evidenced during the developmental periods of greatest prevalence for the specific externalizing behavior subtype. Taken together, these findings suggest that personality pathology is tightly connected with externalizing problems in youth, especially during developmental periods when externalizing problems are common.

A structural model of mechanisms predicting depressive symptoms in women following childhood psychological maltreatment

Two underlying mechanisms, emotion dysregulation and negative internalized beliefs, were examined as potential mediators of the association between childhood psychological maltreatment (PM) and depression in emerging adult women. PM was assessed as a multi-faceted construct including aspects of psychological abuse (e.g., corrupting) and psychological neglect (e.g., emotional unresponsiveness) that occurred by parents. Female undergraduates (n=771) completed anonymous, retrospective, self-report surveys assessing childhood PM, current depressive symptoms, emotion dysregulation (lack of emotional clarity and regulation strategies), and negative internalized beliefs (mistrust, shame, and defectiveness). Psychological maltreatment was represented as four subtypes of psychological abuse or neglectful behavior: Emotional Non-Responsiveness, Spurning/Terrorizing, Corrupting, and Demanding/Rigid (i.e., controlling behavior). Both emotion dysregulation and negative internalized beliefs significantly mediated the link between childhood PM and depressive symptoms, accounting for approximately 68% of the variance in symptomatology. Findings suggest the importance of focusing intervention on development of emotion regulation capacity including emotional awareness and regulatory strategies, as well as a focus on core negative beliefs including shame, defectiveness, and mistrust of others. Implications for future research are discussed.

The panoply of field-dependent behavior in 1436 stroke patients. The mirror neuron system uncoupled and the consequences of loss of personal autonomy

Evaluation of the multifaceted nature of frontal network syndromes is uniquely challenging and rarely tested in the acute/sub-acute stroke period. Field-dependent behavior such as imitation behavior, utilization behavior, and environmental dependency syndrome, as a component of altered environmental autonomy, may be a reliable bedside test. This research focused on the frequency of field-dependent behavior in stroke, the subtypes and relation to frontal lobe lesion location and stroke etiology. A validated frontal network score incorporating a 10-point imitation behavior scale was applied to alert patients without significant aphasia, encephalopathy, dementia, or substance abuse. Discriminative validity assessment with magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion weight imaging (MRI-DWI brain) was performed and correlational validity was established using standard neuropsychological tests. Of the stroke patients (n = 1436), those with frontal network symptoms (335/1203; 28%) were analyzed further. In the 73 patients with lesions restricted to the frontal lobes or the frontal subcortical circuits, 56 complied with the 10-point imitation behavior scale testing. Forty-five of 56 (80%) demonstrated imitation behavior (sensitivity 73% and specificity 94%). Correlational validity testing with four commonly used frontal lobe neuropsychological tests was good. The stroke etiology included 26 (59%) “other” causes, 9 (20%) intracerebral hemorrhages, 3 (7%) cardioembolic causes, 3 (7%) large vessel disease, 2 (4%) small vessel disease, and 2 (4%) unknown etiology. Field-dependent behaviour subtypes included imitation behavior (n = 45), utilization behavior (n = 9), environmental dependency syndrome (n = 4), and complex other forms of environmental dependence syndrome (n = 5). It was concluded that imitation behavior is a relatively common occurrence with lesions in the frontal lobes in the acute/sub-acute stroke period and is associated predominantly with non-mainstream (other) stroke causes and intracerebral hemorrhage.

Impulse control disorders in Parkinson's disease

Impulse control disorders (ICDs) in Parkinson's disease (PD) are common with a frequency of 13.61% , which are associated with impaired functioning and with depressive, anxiety and obsessive symptoms, novelty seeking and impulsivity. These behaviors have a bad influence on PD patients in the quality of life. Different behavioral subtypes suggest pathophysiological differences. Recent large scale studies and converging findings are beginning to provide an understanding of mechanisms underlying ICDs in PD which can guide the prevention of these behaviors and optimize therapeutic approaches. This paper will take a review on the recent advances in the epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, diagnosis and therapy of ICDs in PD.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Dutch Version of the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale (IPAS) in Male and Female Prisoners

Aggressive behavior is traditionally classified into two subtypes, impulsive and premeditated aggression. The Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale (IPAS) is a self-report questionnaire to measure a person's tendency towards these subtypes of aggressive behavior. This study reports on the psychometric quality of the Dutch translation of the IPAS in a sample of 149 male and 70 female prisoners in the Netherlands. Confirmatory Factor Analysis yielded two factors with an item composition quite similar to those found in previous studies: impulsive aggression, 17 items; premeditated aggression, 13 items. For both factors reliable subscales could be composed for males and females: impulsive aggression αmales = .92, αfemales = .94; premeditated aggression αmales = .90 and αfemales = .91. The subscales were highly correlated: r males = .70, r females = .75. It is concluded that the underlying structure of the Dutch version of the IPAS is similar to the original version of the questionnaire, that internal consistency of the two subscales is good, and that the correlation between the two subscales is higher than previously reported. Possible reasons for the high correlation of the subscales are discussed. Additional studies are needed to establish the construct and criterion/predictive validity of the IPAS in the forensic field.

Latent profile analysis to determine the typology of disinhibited eating behaviors in children and adolescents.

We used latent profile analysis (LPA) to classify children and adolescents into subtypes based on the overlap of disinhibited eating behaviors-eating in the absence of hunger, emotional eating, and subjective and objective binge eating. Participants were 411 youths (8-18 years) from the community who reported on their disinhibited eating patterns. A subset (n = 223) ate ad libitum from two test meals. LPA produced five subtypes that were most prominently distinguished by objective binge eating (OBE; n = 53), subjective binge eating (SBE; n = 59), emotional eating (EE; n = 62), a mix of emotional eating and eating in the absence of hunger (EE-EAH; n = 172), and no disinhibited eating (No-DE; n = 64). Accounting for age, sex, race, and body mass index z score (BMI-z), the four disinhibited eating groups had more problem behaviors than the no disinhibited eating group (p = .001). OBE and SBE subtypes had greater BMI-z, percent fat mass, disordered eating attitudes, and trait anxiety than EE, EE-EAH, and No-DE subtypes (ps < .01). However, the OBE subtype reported the highest eating concern (p < .001), and the OBE, SBE, and EE subtypes reported higher depressive symptoms than the EE-EAH and No-DE subtypes. Across both test meals, OBE and SBE subtypes consumed a lesser percentage of protein and a higher percentage of carbohydrate than the other subtypes (ps < .02), adjusting for age, sex, race, height, lean mass, percent fat mass, and total intake. EE subtypes also consumed a greater percentage of carbohydrate and a lower percentage of fat than the EE-EAH and No-DE subtypes (ps < .03). The SBE subtype consumed the least total calories (p = .01). We conclude that behavioral subtypes of disinhibited eating may be distinguished by psychological characteristics and objective eating behavior. Prospective data are required to determine whether subtypes predict the onset of eating disorders and obesity.

Iowa Gambling Task performance in currently depressed suicide attempters

Deficits in decision-making using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) have been found in past suicide attempters, but primarily euthymic and/or medicated patients. This study compared IGT performance among medication-free, currently depressed patients (unipolar and bipolar) with (n=26) and without (n=46) a past history of suicide attempt, and healthy volunteers (n=42). Attempter status, in a sample whose attempts were predominantly non-violent, was not associated with impaired IGT performance even when accounting for sex, mood disorder type, and comorbid Borderline Personality Disorder. A non-significant trend towards poorer performance was found in a small subgroup of past attempters who had used a violent method, consistent with prior studies. Suicide intent and ideation were unrelated to IGT scores. There were no consistent associations between IGT performance and ratings of impulsiveness (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS)), hostility (Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI)) or aggression (Brown–Goodwin Aggression Inventory (BGAI)). Results suggest that decision-making impairment is related to specific subtypes of suicidal behavior, but may not be universally sensitive to suicide risk in all types of attempters, especially those using non-violent means. Psychometric and conceptual issues surrounding the IGT also appear to affect its utility as a general marker of suicidal behavior risk.

Challenging behavior in Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome: initial test of biobehavioral influences.

To study challenging behavior (destruction, aggression, self-injury, stereotypy) in children with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) using a biobehavioral model that helps distinguish biological from socially mediated variables influencing the behavior. SLOS is an autosomal-recessive syndrome of multiple malformations and intellectual disability resulting from a genetic error in cholesterol synthesis in all cells and tissues, including brain. The exact cause of the challenging behavior in SLOS is unclear, but defective brain cholesterol synthesis may contribute. Because the precise genetic and biochemical etiology of SLOS is known, this disorder is a good model for studying biological causes of challenging behavior. In a preliminary application of a biobehavioral model, we studied the association between cholesterol levels (as a biochemical indicator of disease severity) and behavior subtype ("biological" vs "learned") in 13 children with SLOS. Parents completed a questionnaire that categorized challenging behavior as influenced primarily by social or nonsocial (thus, presumably biological) factors. The severity of the cholesterol synthesis defect correlated significantly with behavior subtype classification for 1 of 2 challenging behaviors. Greater severity of the cholesterol synthesis defect was associated with behavior being classified as primarily influenced by biological factors. The interplay between challenging behavior and defective cholesterol synthesis in SLOS may help explain biological influences on the behavior. Our findings have implications for research on the effectiveness of behavioral and medical treatments for behavioral difficulties in SLOS and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Prospective associations between forms and functions of aggression and social and affective processes during early childhood

The central goal of this study was to examine the prospective associations between forms (i.e., physical and relational) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggressive behavior with social (i.e., peer rejection) and affective (i.e., anger, emotion regulation skills) processes during early childhood (N=96, mean age=42.80 months, SD=7.57). A cross-lagged path analysis revealed that proactive relational aggression was uniquely associated with decreases in peer rejection, whereas reactive relational aggression was associated with increases in peer rejection over time. Proactive relational aggression predicted decreases in anger, whereas reactive relational aggression tended to be associated with increases in anger. Proactive relational aggression uniquely predicted increases in emotion regulation skills, whereas reactive relational aggression tended to be associated with decreases in emotion regulation skills over time. Finally, anger was significantly associated with increases in several subtypes of aggressive behavior. In sum, the findings provide further support for the distinction between subtypes of aggressive behavior in young children.

Identifying gender-specific developmental trajectories of nonviolent and violent delinquency from adolescence to young adulthood

Most research examining gender differences in developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior does not consider subtypes of antisocial behavior and is difficult to generalize due to small non-representative samples. The current study investigated gender difference in developmental trajectories from adolescence to young adulthood while addressing those limitations. Analyses were limited to respondents ages 15 and 16 in wave 1 (16–17 in wave 2, and 21–22 in wave 3) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 6244, 49.5% males). Self-report nonviolent and violent delinquencies were simultaneously entered into latent class analysis. Four latent classes were identified: low, desister, decliner, and chronic (male-only). In addition to finding a male-specific chronic class, gender differences included differences in levels of nonviolent and violent delinquency between synonymous classes of males and females, and differences in prevalence of classes across genders. Neighborhood disadvantage and family support predicted trajectories.

Sensory and sensorimotor gating in children with multiple complex developmental disorders (MCDD) and autism

Multiple Complex Developmental Disorder (MCDD) is a well-defined and validated behavioral subtype of autism with a proposed elevated risk of developing a schizophrenic spectrum disorder. The current study investigated whether children with MCDD show the same deficits in sensory gating that are commonly reported in schizophrenia, or whether they are indistinguishable from children with autism in this respect. P50 suppression and prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle reflex were assessed in children with MCDD (n=14) or autism (n=13), and healthy controls (n=12), matched on age and IQ. All subjects showed high levels of PPI and P50 suppression. However, no group differences were found. No abnormalities in sensory filtering could be detected in children with autism or MCDD. Since sensory gating deficits are commonly regarded as possible endophenotypic markers for schizophrenia, the current results do not support a high level of similarity between schizophrenia and MCDD.