Browsing by Subject "Externalizing"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Adult Cognitive Functioning In Adolescent-Onset And Persistent Alcohol Use Disorders In Men
    (2013-05) Sparks, Jordan
    Alcohol use disorders ("AUDs") have a high prevalence rate, are heterogeneous, and are associated with deficits in executive abilities, learning, and memory. The literature on adolescent AUD and adult cognitive functioning is limited, and no prospective study has simultaneously examined how an AUD-onset during a neurologically-vulnerable period, persistence of use in adulthood, and an interaction of these processes may attenuate or exacerbate cognitive issues. This study used two AUD subtypes commonly employed to characterize the heterogeneity in AUD presentation - the adolescent-onset and persistent subtype - to address these questions, and also relied on measures of behavioral disinhibition and intellectual functioning ascertained during childhood to address the concern that the relationship between AUDs and later-cognitive functioning may be subject to confounding. It was hypothesized that premorbid childhood risk factors would relate to both AUD subtype and adult cognition, that both an adolescent-onset and a persistent course of AUD would relate to cognitive deficits in adulthood, and that accounting for premorbid risk factors would attenuate this relationship. A community sample of 650 men born in Minnesota was assessed at six visits occurring between age 11 and age 29 and divided into AUD groups of adolescent-onset persisters and desisters, adult-onset persisters and desisters, and controls. Both AUD-membership and age 29 cognitive performance were associated with risk factors that preceded AUD-onset; when accounting for premorbid risk, there was scant evidence that AUDs were associated with cognitive deficits. Future research of AUDs and cognition should account for premorbid risk factors.
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    The development of task switching in adolescence and relationships with externalizing symptoms.
    (2010-06) Sullwold, Kristin Marie
    Cognitive flexibility facilitates the ability to quickly change behavior to adjust to changing environmental contingencies by shifting attention away from one task and attending to another. This ability may be one of a number of executive functions that improves through childhood and into adulthood. This study was conducted to examine the development of task switching during adolescence. Specifically, the development of two cognitive processes, attention switching and processing speed, that may underlie task switching ability were examined within a single task. Additionally, the degree to which self-reported externalizing behavior impacts these aspects of task switching ability was investigated. Individuals (N = 177) ages 9 to 23 participated in the study. The results showed that the different cognitive components that underlie task switching ability develop at different rates. Attention switching ability appears to be mature by early adolescence; however, the ability to efficiently activate the upcoming task set, which is likely dependent on processing speed, continues to increase until mid-adolescence. There was limited evidence that externalizing behavior in a non-clinical sample impacts attention switching performance. Externalizing behavior does not appear to significantly influence processing speed. These data clarify the nature of task switching development in adolescence by revealing how age-related changes in two cognitive components that underlie task switching ability contribute to cognitive flexibility.
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    Does electroencephalogram phase variability account for reduced P3 brain potential in externalizing disorders?
    (2013-09) Burwell, Scott Joseph
    Background. Amplitude deficits of the P3 event-related brain potential (ERP) are associated with externalizing psychopathology but little is known about nature of the underlying brain electrical activity that accounts for this amplitude reduction. P3 amplitude is partially determined by electroencephalographic (EEG) frequencies in delta and theta bands and differences in phase-invariant stimulus-evoked energy and task-induced phase-locking associated with these frequencies may account for the P3-externalizing association.Methods. Adult males (N = 410) completed a visual oddball task and frontal and parietal ERPs were analyzed as P3-related (300 to 600 milliseconds post-stimulus) evoked energy and inter-trial phase-locking measures in the delta (1 - 3.5 Hz) and theta-frequency (3.5 - 8 Hz) bands. We investigated how the delta and theta activity underlying P3 varies with disorders in the externalizing spectrum, including substance dependence, adult antisociality, and childhood disruptive disorders. We hypothesized that P3-related phase-locking is weaker in externalizing-diagnosed individuals and this might mediate prior findings of reduced evoked P3energy. Results. Reductions in both evoked energy and phase-locking, in both frequency bands, at both scalp sites, were associated with greater odds of having an externalizing disorder. In most cases, adding phase-locking to evoked energy came with better prediction model fit. Moreover, reduced theta- but not delta-band phase-locking partially mediated the effects of within-frequency evoked energy on externalizing prediction.Conclusions. These results suggest that phase-locking of inter-trial EEG during the P3 time-window is an important distinction between externalizing-prone individuals and control subjects. This cross-trial phase-variability for externalizing-diagnosed individuals might reflect deficient top-down "tuning" by neuromodulatory systems.
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    Familial Aggregation of Externalizing Psychopathology
    (2017-08) Ofrat, Shani
    Objective Understanding familial aggregation (FA) of psychopathology in a latent variable framework allows for an understanding of shared risk for maladaptive traits and disorders in parents and their children, and improves clinical utility or risk models. Previously, FA has been investigated using bivariate approaches, providing a piecemeal understanding of risk. This study investigates 1) how externalizing disorders in parents impact risk for a broad range of internalizing and externalizing disorders in offspring, 2) if risk shared between parents and offspring is best conceptualized as general risk for a group of disorders or specific to particular disorders, and 3) how this might vary as a function of parent and offspring gender. Methods Data for sample one were collected as part of the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) in 2001-2002 on 43,093 individuals 18 years or older living in the US. A replication sample used the Minnesota Twin and Family Study sample of twins, siblings, and their parents using parallel analyses to attempt to replicate results in an independent sample which used direct assessment of parent psychopathology. Using confirmatory factor analysis, parental externalizing disorders were investigated as a risk factor for externalizing, fear, and distress disorders in offspring, in a latent variable structural equation model. Results Externalizing in parents was most predictive of externalizing in offspring, followed by distress and finally fear disorders. However, in female offspring, externalizing in mothers in particular was as strong a predictor of distress disorders as it was of externalizing disorders. Risk for offspring disorders associated with parent disorders was well-explained by a latent variable framework, with residual correlations for ASPD in parents associated with specific risk for offspring ASPD. Conclusions Results indicate that familial psychopathology aggregation follows a pattern that suggests risk is aggregated generally (transdiagnostically across similar disorders), not specifically. Additionally, externalizing in mothers is associated with increased risk for distress disorders in female offspring, and possibly also in male offspring.
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    Investigating the Neural Networks Involved in Externalizing and Conscientious Behavior
    (2019-06) Rueter, Amanda Rae
    Conscientiousness and impulsivity are traits that affect how well an individual is able to achieve their goals. Individuals high in Conscientiousness are described as being more industrious, maintaining order in their life, and having high self-discipline (Ozer & Benet-Martínez, 2006) and would likely score low on disinhibited externalizing. Individuals who score high on disinhibited externalizing behavior show lack of constraint, have higher sensation seeking behavior and are more prone to substance use (Miller, Lynam, & Jones, 2008). However, the neural systems underlying variation in these traits are not well understood. Functional connectivity is a way to study neural networks of the brain and can be used to assess whether or not individual differences are associated with connectivity in the brain. Previous research shows positive associations between Conscientiousness and functional connectivity in the goal priority network (GPN; Rueter et al., 2018). Few studies have investigated associations between functional connectivity and Conscientiousness and disinhibited externalizing. In this dissertation, I: (1) attempted to replicate findings from a previous study with a larger sample to investigate associations between connectivity and Conscientiousness while extending the analysis to include disinhibited externalizing behavior and (2) apply the same functional connectivity methodology to a task-based fMRI data set to see if the traits of interest and connectivity remain associated during a cognitive task requiring inhibition. I hypothesized that the GPN and the central executive network (CEN) would be negatively associated with disinhibited externalizing behavior and that only the GPN would be positively associated with Conscientiousness. Results from study one and study two suggest that the CEN is negatively associated with disinhibited externalizing, while only study two suggests that the GPN is negatively associated with disinhibited externalizing. Study two supported the hypothesis that the GPN is associated with Conscientiousness, while Study 1 did not. This dissertation provides an integrated investigation of how Conscientiousness and externalizing behavior are related on a biological level. Resisting impulses and orienting oneself towards goals are both important behaviors implicated in successfully navigating life. Further research on these networks may help us create therapies or treatments to increase Conscientiousness and reduce self-compromising, maladaptive, externalizing behaviors.
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    Relational Aggression and Externalizing: A Common Etiology?
    (2016-12) Carey, Bridget
    Previous research suggests that a highly heritable general externalizing factor contributes to individual differences in a range of behaviors marked by impulsivity and disinhibition, such as rule-breaking and aggression. Relational aggression has been found to be moderately heritable and to share common genetic and environmental influences with physical aggression, though no prior studies have examined the etiological commonality between relational aggression and a more broadly construed externalizing domain. Using a sample of 499 like-sex twin pairs, the present study confirmed that six measures of externalizing-related behaviors formed two distinct subfactors of rule-breaking and aggression. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that relational aggression correlated nearly equally with both factors. Factors of aggression, rule-breaking, and relational aggression were fit in an independent pathway model which revealed that relational aggression was influenced by additive genetics and non-shared environmental effects (a2 = .31 and e2 = .69). A majority of the heritability of relational aggression (72%) was shared with the aggression and rule breaking factors, whereas the majority of the non-shared environmental influence (88%) was specific to relational aggression. Findings suggest that relational aggression should be included in the broader externalizing domain, and that it may be its own distinct subfactor of externalizing, rather than simply being an alternate form of aggression.
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    The Relations between Academic Achievement and Externalizing Behavior: Separating Fact from Fiction
    (2020-06) Kulkarni, Tara
    Some of the worst long-term outcomes of children are associated with the presence of both externalizing behavior and low academic achievement. Additionally, trajectories of externalizing problem behavior have shown that when children enter kindergarten with problem behavior, it tends to persist and is often associated with low academic achievement. However, though there remains a popular belief amongst educators that academic achievement and externalizing behavior have a strong predictive and even causal relationship, evidence is mixed. Given the implications for both resource allocation and intervention design if causal associations were supported, this dissertation sought to examine the relationship between the two domains, by (a) systematically reviewing literature in an effort to reveal potential causal relations, if any, and (b) conduct an empirical study using nationally representative data (N=7,330) and latent class growth analysis to reveal relations of early academic achievement with externalizing behavior trajectories based on the findings of the review. Results from both studies indicated that there is no concrete evidence for even predictive relations between achievement and externalizing behavior. Instead, the low achievement often observed in children with high externalizing behavior likely has other underlying causes. Specifically, results suggested that malleable variables like inattention and school readiness behaviors are better predictors of both achievement and teacher reported externalizing behavior. Lastly, this dissertation also revealed that socio-demographic factors like sex and race have strong associations with teacher reported externalizing behavior. Implications for school systems as well as student level interventions are discussed.
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    Unity and diversity of executive functioning across childhood and adolescence: Latent factor structure and associations with subclinical emotional and behavioral problems.
    (2010-07) Cassidy, Adam R.
    The primary objectives of the present study were to determine empirically the structure and organization of three executive function (EF) factors - Working Memory, Shifting, and Verbal Fluency - and to examine concurrent associations between EF and subclinical internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in a sample of children and adolescents 7 to 18 years of age (M = 11.43 years, SD = 3.43). Additionally, developmental differences in associations between EF and psychosocial functioning were investigated by comparing latent factor organization across age-based sub-groups. Data were collected from a large, nationally-representative sample of healthy children and adolescents (N = 352), and analyzed at the level of latent constructs rather than observed (i.e., manifest) variables. Results of a series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) revealed that a three-factor, fully intercorrelated solution provided the best fit to the available data, thus supporting a conceptualization of working memory, shifting, and verbal fluency as distinct yet related higher-order cognitive processes. Additional CFAs were then conducted to assess the impact of non-executive control variables - crystallized verbal intelligence and processing speed - on the latent factor structure of EF. Although both control factors accounted for significant variance in all EF measures, non-executive skills could not account entirely for performance on EF tasks. Furthermore, the inclusion of control variables differentially impacted latent factor structure, highlighting the utility of partitioning non-executive variance for understanding the organization of EF. FAs examining associations between EF factors and psychosocial functioning revealed that individual differences in certain domains of EF track meaningfully and in expected directions with subclinical emotional and behavioral problems. Externalizing difficulties, in particular, were more reliably predicted by Working Memory and Verbal Fluency factors, although these domains of functioning did account for marginally significant portions of variance in Internalizing problems as well. Finally, looking across developmental sub-groups, results failed to reveal a consistent pattern of interrelations between latent EF and emotional/behavioral problems factors. Nonetheless, there was at least some evidence that EF becomes increasingly relevant to psychosocial functioning across childhood/adolescence, particularly with respect to Internalizing difficulties. Findings are discussed in terms of basic and clinical implications, as well as directions for future research.