Annals of Behavioural Science

Description

Eating Disorders (EDs) are serious mental illnesses of growing clinical and social impact. Despite their severity, there is still no satisfactory evidence-based treatment. Follow-up investigations are the most reliable studies to enlighten long-term outcome predictors and modifiers. A representative cohort of six-year old children from the swiss general population was assessed in and re-assessed with informant-ratings of personality and externalizing psychopathology. Mean levels of neuroticism and to a lesser extent agreeableness declined considerably over time on a population-level, but differential stability was high. Age 6 trait-score and trait-change over time in agreeableness related significantly to age 9 externalizing pathology. Path analysis additionally provided evidence for bidirectional covariance between several personality traits and externalizing psychopathology and there were some prospective influences of age 6 psychopathology on subsequent personality change. Differential stability of personality is high, but marked trait-change occurs and is relevant as it prospectively relates to externalizing psychopathology. According to the two continua model of mental health, psychopathology and positive mental health (emotional, psychological, and social well-being) are related but distinct continua. This study investigates the two continua model by examining whether psychopathology and positive mental health show differential associations with the Big Five personality traits. The paper draws on data of the representative LISS panel. Participants filled out questionnaires on personality, psychopathology, and positive mental health. Personality traits were differentially related to psychopathology and positive mental health, supporting the two continua model. Emotional stability (reversed neuroticism) is the main correlate of psychopathology, whereas the personality traits extraversion and agreeableness are uniquely associated with positive mental health. The present study explores how parents’ personality clusters relate to their eating disordered daughters’ personality and psychopathology. Mothers and fathers were tested with the Temperament Character Inventory. Their daughters were assessed with the following: Temperament and Character Inventory, Eating Disorder Inventory-2, Symptom Checklist-90, Parental Bonding Instrument, Attachment Style Questionnaire, and Family Assessment Device. Daughters’ personality traits and psychopathology scores were compared between clusters. Daughters’ features were related to those of their parents. Explosive/adventurous mothers were found to relate to their daughters’ borderline personality profile and more severe interoceptive awareness. Mothers’ immaturity was correlated to their daughters’ higher character immaturity, inadequacy, and depressive feelings. Fathers who were explosive/methodical correlated with their daughters’ character immaturity, severe eating, and general psychopathology. Fathers’ character immaturity only marginally related to their daughters’ specific features. Both parents’ temperament clusters and mothers’ character clusters related to patients’ personality and eating psychopathology. The cluster approach to personality-related dynamics of families with an individual affected by an eating disorder expands the knowledge on the relationship between parents’ characteristics and daughters’ illness, suggesting complex and unique relationships correlating parents’ personality traits to their daughters’ disorder. Social Network Sites (SNSs) have proliferated across the internet, engaging millions of users. Although the expansion of SNSs has made communication easier, it has also been connected to mental health concerns. Previous research has suggested not all users are engaging with SNSs in the same ways or for the same reasons; however, much of the literature concerning personality and SNSs has focused solely on the connection between narcissism and SNS use. The current study examined the relationship between pathological personality traits and SNS behaviors more broadly, and the role that self-esteem plays in moderating this relationship. Negative Affectivity and Antagonism tended to show the strongest associations with maladaptive SNS behaviors, and self-esteem was found to moderate very few of these relationships. These findings suggest that individuals particularly high in the personality domains of Negative Affectivity and Antagonism may be more at-risk for SNS misuse than their less dis regulated peers. Emerging personality organization may play an important role in the psychological adjustment of early adolescents, but research in this area is still limited. The current study evaluated if personality organization moderates the association between rejection sensitivity and adverse psychological outcomes in early adolescence. Connections between personality traits and psychopathology in children and adolescents have frequently been reported in research studies. However, despite the occurrence of significant and systematic relationships between personality and mental disorders in childhood, a thorough understanding of the cause, nature, and implications of these relationships is lacking. In this paper, a comprehensive taxonomy of childhood personality is used to link research on children with that on adults, as well as provide a framework for discussing the personality–psychopathology relationship.

Psychiatric Nosology and Personality Theories

Next, research on children and adolescents is integrated into various proposed models of the personality–psychopathology relationship. Finally, clinical implications and future directions are proposed for research on personality and psychopathology in children. Although there is growing consensus that the fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorder several studies have advocated a relationship between psychopathological features and sexual compulsivity. Such relationship is often found among individuals seeking help for out of control sexual behavior, suggesting that the association between psychological adjustment and sexual compulsivity may have a significant clinical value. However, a more complete approach to the topic of sexual compulsivity would also include the analysis of nonclinical samples as healthy individuals may be at risk of developing some features of hypersexuality in the future should replace the categorical view of mental disorders with a dimensional approach rooted in personality theory, no consensus has emerged about the dimensions that should be the basis of the new classification system. Moreover, recent attempts to bridge the gap between psychiatric nosology and personality theories have primarily relied on empirically-derived dimensional personality models. While this focus on empirically-derived personality theories may result in a psychometrically valid classification system, it may create a classification system that lacks theoretical and empirical comprehensiveness and has limited clinical utility. In this paper, we first argue that research findings increasingly suggest that an integration of theory-driven and empirically-derived models of personality development is not only possible, but also has the potential to provide a more comprehensive and clinically-relevant approach to classification and diagnosis than either approach alone.

Psychosocial and Neurobiological Processes

Next, we propose a comprehensive model of personality development and psychopathology based on an integration of contemporary theory-driven and empirically-derived models of personality. Finally, we outline the implications of this approach for the future development of DSM, and especially its potential for developing research that addresses the interactions between psychosocial and neurobiological processes implicated in personality development and psychopathology. The importance of the role played by personality variables in the etiology, development, and maintenance of most emotional disorders is strongly supported by empirical data. However, there is a lack of studies concerning the implication of these variables on sexual difficulties.