No abstract

The connection between self-reported depressive symptoms at age 8 and ideation and acts of deliberate self-harm at age 18 is a good reason to already pay special attention to children's own intimations of distress in elementary school. It is likely that an effective way to prevent suicidality among adolescents is to search for and treat psychiatric problems among young people. Self-reported screening questionnaires used, e.g. in school healthcare, may provide an opportunity to recognize these problems.

267 normal controls of different ages underwent achilles tendon thickness measurements by ultrasonography (US) for reference. 96 recruits and 10 young women additionally underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the achilles tendons and calves for more systematic evaluation of the factors influencing tendon thickness. Children under 10 had a tendon thickness (mean +/- SD) of 4.6 +/- 0.8 mm, 10-17 year-olds 6.1 +/- 0.8 mm, 18-30 year-olds 6.3 +/- 0.5 mm and over 30 year-olds 6.9 +/- 1.0 mm. Women had slightly thinner tendons than men, but the difference was statistically significant only in the oldest age group. Normal variation in shape of the tendon caused up to a 25% variation in the measured thickness values. In the large sample of recruits a statistically significant correlation was found between the tendon thickness and body height. Differences in population height could account for the measured differences in normal achilles tendon thickness found in studies on Japanese subjects compared with studies on European and American subjects.

Biobehavioral dispositions can serve as valuable referents for biologically-oriented research on core processes with relevance to many psychiatric conditions. The present study examined two such dispositional variables—weak response inhibition (or disinhibition; INH−) and threat sensitivity (or fearfulness; THT+)—as predictors of the serious transdiagnostic problem of suicide risk in two samples: male and female outpatients from a U.S. clinic (N=1,078), and a population-based male military cohort from Finland (N=3,855). INH− and THT+ were operationalized through scores on scale measures of disinhibition and fear/fearlessness, known to be related to DSM-defined clinical conditions and brain biomarkers. Suicide risk was assessed by clinician ratings (clinic sample) and questionnaires (both samples). Across samples and alternative suicide indices, INH− and THT+ each contributed uniquely to prediction of suicide risk—beyond internalizing and externalizing problems in the case of the clinic sample where diagnostic data were available. Further, in both samples, INH− and THT+ interactively predicted suicide risk, with individuals scoring concurrently high on both dispositions exhibiting markedly augmented risk. Findings demonstrate that dispositional constructs of INH− and THT+ are predictive of suicide risk, and hold potential as referents for biological research on suicidal behavior.

This study used model-based cluster analysis to identify subtypes of men who scored high in overall psychopathy (i.e., ≥ 95th percentile on the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure; n = 193) from a larger sample evaluated for service in the Finnish military (N= 4043). Cluster variates consisted of scores on distinct facets of psychopathy together with a measure of negative affectivity. The best-fitting model specified two clusters, representing ‘primary’ (n = 110) and ‘secondary’ psychopathy (n = 83) groups. Compared to a low-psychopathy comparison group (n = 1878), both psychopathy subgroups showed markedly elevated levels of externalizing symptoms and criminal behavior. Secondary psychopathic participants also reported high levels of internalizing problems including anxiousness, depression, and somatization, and scored higher on the disinhibition facet of psychopathy relative to the primary group. By contrast, primary psychopathic individuals reported fewer internalizing problems than either the secondary psychopathy or comparison groups and scored higher on the boldness facet of psychopathy. Primary psychopathic participants also had higher rates of violent crimes than the secondary psychopaths. Implications for conceptualizing and studying psychopathy in non-forensic populations are discussed.