Browsing by Subject "Internalizing"
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Item Familial Aggregation of Externalizing Psychopathology(2017-08) Ofrat, ShaniObjective 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.Item 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.