Browsing by Subject "Neuroticism"

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    Harmonization of Neuroticism and Extraversion phenotypes across inventories and cohorts in the Genetics of Personality Consortium: an application of Item Response Theory.
    (Behavior genetics, 2014-07) van den Berg, Stéphanie M; de Moor, Marleen HM; McGue, Matt; Pettersson, Erik; Terracciano, Antonio; Verweij, Karin JH; Amin, Najaf; Derringer, Jaime; Esko, Tõnu; van Grootheest, Gerard; Hansell, Narelle K; Huffman, Jennifer; Konte, Bettina; Lahti, Jari; Luciano, Michelle; Matteson, Lindsay K; Viktorin, Alexander; Wouda, Jasper; Agrawal, Arpana; Allik, Jüri; Bierut, Laura; Broms, Ulla; Campbell, Harry; Smith, George Davey; Eriksson, Johan G; Ferrucci, Luigi; Franke, Barbera; Fox, Jean-Paul; de Geus, Eco JC; Giegling, Ina; Gow, Alan J; Grucza, Richard; Hartmann, Annette M; Heath, Andrew C; Heikkilä, Kauko; Iacono, William G; Janzing, Joost; Jokela, Markus; Kiemeney, Lambertus; Lehtimäki, Terho; Madden, Pamela AF; Magnusson, Patrik KE; Northstone, Kate; Nutile, Teresa; Ouwens, Klaasjan G; Palotie, Aarno; Pattie, Alison; Pesonen, Anu-Katriina; Polasek, Ozren; Pulkkinen, Lea; Pulkki-Råback, Laura; Raitakari, Olli T; Realo, Anu; Rose, Richard J; Ruggiero, Daniela; Seppälä, Ilkka; Slutske, Wendy S; Smyth, David C; Sorice, Rossella; Starr, John M; Sutin, Angelina R; Tanaka, Toshiko; Verhagen, Josine; Vermeulen, Sita; Vuoksimaa, Eero; Widen, Elisabeth; Willemsen, Gonneke; Wright, Margaret J; Zgaga, Lina; Rujescu, Dan; Metspalu, Andres; Wilson, James F; Ciullo, Marina; Hayward, Caroline; Rudan, Igor; Deary, Ian J; Räikkönen, Katri; Arias Vasquez, Alejandro; Costa, Paul T; Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Penninx, Brenda WJH; Krueger, Robert F; Evans, David M; Kaprio, Jaakko; Pedersen, Nancy L; Martin, Nicholas G; Boomsma, Dorret I
    Mega- or meta-analytic studies (e.g. genome-wide association studies) are increasingly used in behavior genetics. An issue in such studies is that phenotypes are often measured by different instruments across study cohorts, requiring harmonization of measures so that more powerful fixed effect meta-analyses can be employed. Within the Genetics of Personality Consortium, we demonstrate for two clinically relevant personality traits, Neuroticism and Extraversion, how Item-Response Theory (IRT) can be applied to map item data from different inventories to the same underlying constructs. Personality item data were analyzed in >160,000 individuals from 23 cohorts across Europe, USA and Australia in which Neuroticism and Extraversion were assessed by nine different personality inventories. Results showed that harmonization was very successful for most personality inventories and moderately successful for some. Neuroticism and Extraversion inventories were largely measurement invariant across cohorts, in particular when comparing cohorts from countries where the same language is spoken. The IRT-based scores for Neuroticism and Extraversion were heritable (48 and 49 %, respectively, based on a meta-analysis of six twin cohorts, total N = 29,496 and 29,501 twin pairs, respectively) with a significant part of the heritability due to non-additive genetic factors. For Extraversion, these genetic factors qualitatively differ across sexes. We showed that our IRT method can lead to a large increase in sample size and therefore statistical power. The IRT approach may be applied to any mega- or meta-analytic study in which item-based behavioral measures need to be harmonized.
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    Neuroticism Increases PTSD Symptom Severity by Amplifying the Emotionality, Rehearsal, and Centrality of Trauma Memories.
    (Journal of personality, 2017-10) Ogle, Christin M; Siegler, Ilene C; Beckham, Jean C; Rubin, David C
    OBJECTIVE:Although it is well established that neuroticism increases the risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), little is known about the mechanisms that promote PTSD in individuals with elevated levels of neuroticism. Across two studies, we examined the cognitive-affective processes through which neuroticism leads to greater PTSD symptom severity. METHOD:Community-dwelling adults with trauma histories varying widely in severity (Study 1) and clinically diagnosed individuals exposed to DSM-IV-TR A1 criterion traumas (Study 2) completed measures of neuroticism, negative affectivity, trauma memory characteristics, and PTSD symptom severity. RESULTS:Longitudinal data in Study 1 showed that individuals with higher scores on two measures of neuroticism assessed approximately three decades apart in young adulthood and midlife reported trauma memories accompanied by more intense physiological reactions, more frequent involuntary rehearsal, and greater perceived centrality to identity in older adulthood. These properties of trauma memories were in turn associated with more severe PTSD symptoms. Study 2 replicated these findings using cross-sectional data from individuals with severe trauma histories and three additional measures of neuroticism. CONCLUSIONS:Results suggest that neuroticism leads to PTSD symptoms by magnifying the emotionality, availability, and centrality of trauma memories as proposed in mnemonic models of PTSD.
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    Taking tests in the magnet: Brain mapping standardized tests.
    (Human brain mapping, 2017-11) Rubin, David C; Li, Dawei; Hall, Shana A; Kragel, Philip A; Berntsen, Dorthe
    Standardized psychometric tests are sophisticated, well-developed, and consequential instruments; test outcomes are taken as facts about people that impact their lives in important ways. As part of an initial demonstration that human brain mapping techniques can add converging neural-level evidence to understanding standardized tests, our participants completed items from standardized tests during an fMRI scan. We compared tests for diagnosing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the correlated measures of Neuroticism, Attachment, and Centrality of Event to a general-knowledge baseline test. Twenty-three trauma-exposed participants answered 20 items for each of our five tests in each of the three runs for a total of 60 items per test. The tests engaged different neural processes; which test a participant was taking was accurately predicted from other participants' brain activity. The novelty of the application precluded specific anatomical predictions; however, the interpretation of activated regions using meta-analyses produced encouraging results. For instance, items on the Attachment test engaged regions shown to be more active for tasks involving judgments of others than judgments of the self. The results are an initial demonstration of a theoretically and practically important test-taking neuroimaging paradigm and suggest specific neural processes in answering PTSD-related tests. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5706-5725, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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    The relation between insecure attachment and posttraumatic stress: Early life versus adulthood traumas.
    (Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy, 2015-07) Ogle, Christin M; Rubin, David C; Siegler, Ilene C
    The present study examined the relations between insecure attachment and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among community-dwelling older adults with exposure to a broad range of traumatic events. Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance predicted more severe symptoms of PTSD and explained unique variance in symptom severity when compared to other individual difference measures associated with an elevated risk of PTSD, including NEO neuroticism and event centrality. A significant interaction between the developmental timing of the trauma and attachment anxiety revealed that the relation between PTSD symptoms and attachment anxiety was stronger for individuals with current PTSD symptoms associated with early life traumas compared to individuals with PTSD symptoms linked to adulthood traumas. Analyses examining factors that account for the relation between insecure attachment and PTSD symptoms indicated that individuals with greater attachment anxiety reported stronger physical reactions to memories of their trauma and more frequent voluntary and involuntary rehearsal of their trauma memories. These phenomenological properties of trauma memories were in turn associated with greater PTSD symptom severity. Among older adults with early life traumas, only the frequency of involuntary recall partially accounted for the relation between attachment anxiety and PTSD symptoms. Our differential findings concerning early life versus adulthood trauma suggest that factors underlying the relation between attachment anxiety and PTSD symptoms vary according to the developmental timing of the traumatic exposure. Overall our results are consistent with attachment theory and with theoretical models of PTSD according to which PTSD symptoms are promoted by phenomenological properties of trauma memories.