Despite a mutual interest in disordered behavior, the psychological approaches of individual differences and behaviorism historically have had little common research or discourse. Moreover, over time, both fields independently have developed methods of assessment and treatment that--despite being broadly applicable across populations--exist only in parallel. This also is despite the facts that (1) individual differences frequently are defined by specific types of behavior (or lack thereof), and (2) behavioral analyses may include "organism" variables that share features with temperament variables. The primary goal of the current study is to examine relations between broad temperament factors and the function of problem behavior(s) identified through formal clinical assessment. The proposed model hypothesizes unique contributions of extraversion/surgency/positive affectivity (E/SPA) and neuroticism/negative affectivity (NNA) to the behavior functions of attention and escape, respectively. Subsidiary goals of the study included replicating previously identified temperament factors in this sample and assessing relations among temperament scales and behavioral form(s). Fifty-three children and their caregivers were recruited from 4 behavior treatment clinics at the University of Iowa. Caregivers were asked to complete two measures of temperament/personality: the Children's Behavior Questionnaire Short Form (CBQ) and the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality--Other Report Form (SNAP-ORF). Children also underwent behavior assessment procedures as part of their scheduled clinic appointment, and these records were subsequently accessed to code function, form, frequency, and severity of problem behaviors. Results showed significant, positive relations between E/S-PA and measures of attention function. These findings were consistent across several (though not all) measures of E/S/PA and attention function. In contrast, no significant relation between N-NA and either escape or attention was found. Structural modeling of temperament/personality was broadly consistent with the three factors proposed by the CBQ and SNAP-ORF. Several unique findings at the lower order trait level also were noted and are discussed. The results from the current study provide an important first step in linking behavior and personality with regard to function in addition to behavioral form. Implications for the definitions of traits and function used in this project are discussed. Future research should expand on these preliminary findings to replicate and clarify relations among individual differences and behavioral functions.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit definitional impairments in social relatedness; a phenomenon that can be explained, in part, by their deficits in empathy. Despite the extent of these deficits, relatively little is known about which factors promote or impede empathic functioning within this group. To date, studies of neurotypical children and adolescents suggest the explanatory power of temperament, parenting style, and parenting stress; associations which have yet to be adequately explored with ASD. Thus, the overarching aim of this investigation was to test whether the aforementioned intra- and interindividual features would predict empathy amongst children and adolescents with ASD. To account for some of the heterogeneity in ASD, two groups of parent-child dyads were recruited: one comprising male children and adolescents with intact receptive and expressive language (n = 40, M = 7.68 years); the other, males with little to no language use in either domain (n = 40, M = 9.09 years). A third group of parent-child pairs comprising male neurotypical children and adolescents with age-appropriate language functioning was included as a comparison sample (n = 40, M = 9.53 years). Parents completed wellestablished questionnaires pertaining to child/adolescent temperament and empathy, as well as parenting style and parenting stress, primarily via telephonic interviews. Results showed that temperamental regulation and negative affectivity were linked to empathy within the neurotypical group in positive and inverse directions, respectively. Only regulatory processes were positively associated with empathy within the non-verbal ASD group, whilst only negative affectivity was inversely associated to empathy within the verbal ASD group. Further, warm, responsive, autonomy-promoting parenting was positively associated with empathy within the neurotypical group, whilst punitive and lax parenting were inversely associated with empathy. Positive forms of parenting were also found to predict empathy within both ASD groups – though somewhat less so within the verbal ASD group. Perhaps a consequence of the severity of their empathic deficits, lax and permissive parenting techniques were not tied to empathy within the ASD groups. Finally, parenting stress was inversely linked to empathy within the non-verbal ASD and neurotypical groups only. Results highlight that findings obtained within neurotypical samples cannot always be extrapolated to ASD. Results further underscore the need for ASD interventions to adopt a family systems perspective, teaching parents how to perceive and respond to their children in adaptive ways.

This study used a twin and triplet sample to investigate the influence of preschoolers’ physical activity levels and internalizing problems on subsequent health outcomes (body-mass index, internalizing behavior problems, household health behaviors) in middle childhood. The potential influence of stressors salient in childhood (household chaos, socioeconomic status, stressful life events) on the hypothesized relationship between physical activity and internalizing on health was also explored. A specific focus was placed on examining the underlying genetic and environmental influences of children’s physical activity levels, as assessed by both temperamental (parent-reported) activity levels and observed (in-lab) motor behavior, using a behavioral genetic approach. By measuring physical activity in these two ways, this project also investigated the validity of the observational coding scheme developed for the current study to assess preschoolers’ overt motor behavior during laboratory testing. Data from 65 families (n = 134 children) included in the Southern Illinois Twins/Triplets and Siblings Study (SITSS) were examined from age 5 (physical activity levels, internalizing problems, and household chaos) to follow-up (body-mass index, internalizing problems, household health behavior, socioeconomic status, and stressful life events) when children were age 7-13 years old. Findings indicated that observed motor behavior and temperamental activity were not significantly correlated, suggesting that these measures assess different aspects of preschoolers’ physical activity levels. Additionally, results supported the reliability and validity of the newly developed observational coding scheme, which underscores the utility of this measure; employing this methodological tool in future studies focused on investigating motor behavior in childhood may be particularly fruitful. Genetic analyses demonstrated that approximately 66% and 34% of the variance in observed motor behavior was accounted for by additive genetic and non-shared environmental influences, respectively, whereas the variance in temperamental activity was attributable to dominant genetic effects (72%) and non-shared environmental influences (28%). These results suggest that differences in age 5 physical activity levels are largely due to genetic differences. Finally, longitudinal analyses showed that health outcomes at follow-up were significantly influenced by 5-year-old temperamental activity and internalizing problems, as well as follow-up socioeconomic status and stressful life events: 1) children who were older, were boys, and lived in a low socioeconomic status household had a higher body-mass index at follow-up; 2) children with higher age 5 internalizing problems and concurrent stressful life events had greater internalizing problems at follow-up; 3) boys and children with higher age 5 temperamental activity had lower scores for household health behaviors. The present project provides greater insight into childhood health (body-mass index, internalizing, household health behaviors) by examining factors relevant to health (physical activity levels, internalizing problems, stress) across development (i.e., from age 5 to ages 7-13 years).

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The level of crime in South Africa as reflected by crime statistics affects a high number of adolescents. Trauma and stress associated with interpersonal violence can adversely affect the neurobiology of the individual, since social, emotional and cognitive influences interact in multifaceted ways with neurobiological systems to affect every-day adaptive functioning. This study was embarked upon to determine the difference in the expression of personality between adolescents exposed to community related interpersonal violence and those not exposed to such violence. The 183 research participants were selected from a group of 335 grade 12 learners from a single secondary school in a middle class community. The participants were placed into two sample groups by means of purposive sampling as follows: Sample 1 consisted of all the research participants that reported exposure to community related interpersonal violence during the past 5 years on the self-reporting questionnaire (n = 93). The research participants that did not report exposure to such violence formed Sample 2 (n = 90). Reflecting on the adolescent’s emotional, adaptive functioning and referring to high levels of anxiety and feelings of worthlessness, certain factors of the 16PF questionnaire were predicted to show a statistical significant difference after exposure to community related interpersonal violence after a period of 3 to 5 years. To assess the differences in personality profiles of adolescents exposed to community related interpersonal violence and those not exposed to violence, a MANOVA was used in analysing 16PF results. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups on Factor G (rule consciousness), Factor I (emotional sensitivity) and Factor Q4 (anxiety). This indicated that adolescents exposed to incidents of community related interpersonal violence are inclined to experience more tension, are emotional volatile, depressed and anxious. They tend to be more sensitive to environmental stressors and are likely to give up easily. The group exposed to interpersonal violence (Sample 1) experienced higher levels of PTSD as assessed with the PSD Questionnaire than the group that was not exposed to interpersonal violence (sample 2). The personality profiles of three groups (Sample 1 with high PTSD, Sample 1 with low PTSD and Sample 2) were compared by means of a MANOVA to test whether adolescents who experience high levels of PTSD express their personality different from others. The results identify differences in the expression of personality between adolescents of Sample 1 experiencing higher levels of PTSD and the adolescents who did not experience community related interpersonal violence (sample 2) on Factors G- (Selfindulgent and disregards obligations to people), I + ( Perception might be emotionally influenced) and Q4 + (Elevated levels of anxiety). The coping style (positive or negative coping) of adolescents exposed to community related interpersonal violence was assessed using the Kidcope. This was done to examine the possible influence of coping on the development of posttraumatic stress and differences in the expression of personality. There were no correlations between positive and negative coping and the level of PTSD symptoms and the 16PF. The research could therefore not identify coping as a medicating variable in the development of PTSD and differences in the expression of personality. However, research is required to evaluate coping closer to the time of the actual event. The results of this research are a clear indication that the experience of community-related violence has serious implications for the well-being and development of the personality of adolescents. Violence-exposed adolescents may experience symptoms characteristic of PTSD, including significant difficulty regulating one’s emotions and behaviour impacting on their social, cognitive, physiological and emotional functioning. The original target group for this study was the middle class income population and suburb with relatively good security. The sample was drawn from a typical middleclass environment and adolescents from communities with less protection may present different results if sampled for similar research. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Psychology / PhD / Unrestricted

Many animal societies rely on highly influential keystone individuals for proper functioning. When information quality is important for group success, such keystone individuals have the potential to diminish group performance if they possess inaccurate information. Here, we test whether information quality (accurate or inaccurate) influences collective outcomes when keystone individuals are the first to acquire it. We trained keystone or generic individuals to attack or avoid novel stimuli and implanted these trained individuals within groups of naive colony-mates. We subsequently tracked how quickly groups learned about their environment in situations that matched (accurate information) or mismatched (inaccurate information) the training of the trained individual. We found that colonies with just one accurately informed individual were quicker to learn to attack a novel prey stimulus than colonies with no informed individuals. However, this effect was no more pronounced when the informed individual was a keystone individual. In contrast, keystones with inaccurate information had larger effects than generic individuals with identical information: groups containing keystones with inaccurate information took longer to learn to attack/avoid prey/predator stimuli and gained less weight than groups harbouring generic individuals with identical information. Our results convey that misinformed keystone individuals can become points of vulnerability for their societies.

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AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF SARA J. W. BIEBL, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Child Clinical Psychology, presented on June 14th, 2010 Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: A DIATHESIS-STRESS MODEL OF VICTIMIZATION: RELATIONS AMONG TEMPERAMENT, PEER VICTIMIZATION, PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND HEALTH PROBLEMS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Lisabeth F. DiLalla, Ph.D. Youth who are victimized by their peers are more likely to develop symptoms of psychopathology and health problems in adolescence and adulthood. Also, temperamental traits of behavioral inhibition and emotional reactivity have been found to be significant risk factors for the development of mental and physical health problems. Diathesis-stress models of psychopathology indicate that the interaction between temperament and experiences of trauma may lead an individual to develop psychopathology. Most studies using a biosocial model of psychopathology, however, have focused more on experiences of physical and sexual abuse rather than experiences of peer abuse. No studies to date have examined how experiences of peer victimization moderate the relationship between temperament and later experiences of psychopathology and health problems, which was the primary focus of the present study. A second aim of the present study was to examine how the stability of victimization throughout childhood related to health problems in adolescence. Seventy 12- to 20-year-old youth participated in the present longitudinal study. This longitudinal study included three specific time points. At time 1, when participants were five years of age, they engaged in a 20-minute peer play interaction and their parents completed temperament measures. Tapes of the peer play interaction were rated by trained coders for instances of peer victimization. During time 2, these same youth were between the ages of 10 and 18 and were contacted again and asked to complete measures related to peer victimization. Finally, at time 3, which was the present study, participants were between the ages of 12 and 20 and completed a 1-hour telephone interview which was used to obtain information about experiences of peer victimization as well as mental and physical health outcomes. Results from the present study indicated that youth with specific early temperamental traits (behaviorally inhibited and difficult) and who experienced peer victimization that is impairing appeared to be at multiplicatively greater risk for developing mental and physical health problems in adolescence compared to youth who did not have these same biological vulnerabilities and environmental experiences. Additionally, youth who chronically experienced peer victimization had significantly more mental and physical health problems than youth who experienced less stable victimization. This study adds to the current research on peer victimization by using a diathesis- stress model to examine the interactive effects of peer victimization and temperament on negative mental health and physical health outcomes. Moreover, findings from this study will provide researchers and professionals with information that can aide in the development of interventions for children who experience peer victimization and who suffer from different types of health problems and symptoms of psychopathology. More specifically, by understanding how innate factors such as temperament interact with a child's experience of peer victimization, researchers and clinicians may be able to design more specialized interventions for children based on the patterns of their victimization experiences and temperamental traits.

No description available.