We examined the relation between child maltreatment and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Participants were 86 adolescents who completed measures of child maltreatment, self-criticism, perceived criticism, depression, and NSSI. Analyses revealed significant, small-to-medium associations between specific forms of child maltreatment (physical neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse) and the presence of a recent history of NSSI. Emotional and sexual abuse had the strongest relations with NSSI, and the data supported a theoretical model in which self-criticism mediates the relation between emotional abuse and engagement in NSSI. Specificity for the mediating role of self-criticism was demonstrated by ruling out alternative mediation models. Taken together, these results indicate that several different forms of childhood maltreatment are associated with NSSI and illuminate one mechanism through which maltreatment may be associated with NSSI. Future research is needed to test the temporal relation between maltreatment and NSSI and should aim to identify additional pathways to engagement in NSSI. r
Prior research consistently has shown a strong relation between childhood abuse and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), yet it is unclear why this relation exists. The authors examined 2 specific posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters as potential mechanisms through which childhood abuse may be related to NSSI. Participants were 86 adolescents (78% female, 22% male; 73% Caucasian, 27% other races/ethnicities; mean age = 17.03 years, range = 12-19 years) who completed measures of childhood abuse, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) PTSD symptoms, and NSSI. Analyses revealed a significant relation between childhood sexual abuse in particular and the presence and frequency of NSSI. Moreover, data supported a theoretical model in which PTSD reexperiencing and avoidance/numbing symptoms independently mediate this relation. Future research must test the temporal relation between childhood sexual abuse, PTSD symptoms, and NSSI and identify additional pathways to engagement in NSSI.
Many neuroscience studies have demonstrated that the human amygdala is a central element in the neural workspace that computes affective value. Emerging evidence suggests that novelty is an affective dimension that engages the amygdala independently of other affective properties. This current study is the first in which novelty, valence, and arousal were systematically examined for their relative contributions to amygdala activation during affective processing. Healthy young adults viewed International Affective Picture System (IAPS) images that varied along the dimensions of valence (positive, negative, neutral), arousal (high, mid, low), and novelty (novel, familiar). The results demonstrate that, in comparison to negative (vs. positive) and high (vs. low) arousal stimuli, the amygdala has higher peak responses and a selectively longer timecourse of activation to novel (vs. familiar) stimuli. In addition, novelty differentially engaged other affective brain areas including those involved in controlling and regulating amygdala responses (e.g. orbitofrontal cortex), as well as those transmitting sensory signals that the amygdala modulates (e.g. occipitotemporal visual cortex). Taken together with other findings, these results support the idea that an essential amygdala function is signaling stimulus importance or salience. The results also suggest that novelty is a critical stimulus dimension for amygdala engagement (in addition to valence and arousal).
This study examined the psychometric properties of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) Restructured Clinical Scales (RCSs) in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) receiving clinical services at Veterans Affairs medical centers. Study 1 included 1,098 men who completed the MMPI-2 and were assessed for a range of psychological disorders via structured clinical interview. Study 2 included 136 women who completed the MMPI-2 and were interviewed with the Clinician Administered Scale for PTSD. The utility of the RCSs was compared to that of the Clinical Scales (CSs) and the Keane PTSD (PK) scale. The RCSs demonstrated good psychometric properties along with patterns of associations with other measures of psychopathology that corresponded to current theory regarding the structure of comorbidity. A notable advantage of the RCSs compared to the MMPI-2 CSs was their enhanced construct validity and clinical utility in the assessment of comorbid internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. The PK scale demonstrated incremental validity in the prediction of PTSD beyond that of the RCSs or CSs. KeywordsMinnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2; Restructured Clinical Scales; posttraumatic stress disorder; internalizing; externalizingThe Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) is one of the most widely used assessment instruments in mental health and, as such, is often used in the assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Its extensive array of scales, established norms for a range of populations, and unparalleled breadth of research provides a solid foundation from which to evaluate the profiles of individuals with PTSD for clinical description, case conceptualization, and treatment planning purposes. Despite clear strengths, there are psychometric limitations to its main scales, the Clinical Scales (CSs). Within-scale item content is heterogeneous and some scales tap multiple constructs, complicating the interpretation of scale elevations and limiting construct validity (Tellegen et al., 2003). There is considerable item overlap among the CSs, which contributes to artificially inflated intercorrelations (Helmes & Reddon, 1993;Tellegen et al., 2003). This makes it difficult to determine if elevations on multiple scales are indicative of substantive patterns of symptom covariation or simply due to common items. Recently, the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical Scales (RCSs) were developed to address these issues and to increase the independence of each scale and provide purer, more valid indicators of pathology (Tellegen et al., 2003). This article describes two studies that examined the psychometric properties and diagnostic utility of the RCSs for the assessment of PTSD and comorbid disorders in men Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mark W. Miller, National Center for PTSD (116B-2), VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130. E-mail: mark.m...
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