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Biomedical subjects

Avshalom Caspi

Publications and source records attributed to Avshalom Caspi.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Bullying victimization uniquely contributes to adjustment problems in young children: a nationally representative cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: It has been shown that bullying victimization is associated with behavior and school adjustment problems, but it remains unclear whether the experience of bullying uniquely contributes to those problems after taking into account preexisting adjustment problems. METHODS: We examined bullying in the Environmental Risk Study, a nationally representative 1994-1995 birth cohort of 2232 children. We identified children who experienced bullying between the ages of 5 and 7 years either as pure victims or bully/victims. We collected reports from mothers and teachers about children's behavior problems and school adjustment when they were 5 years old and again when they were age 7. RESULTS: Compared with control children, pure victims showed more internalizing problems and unhappiness at school when they were 5 and 7 years. Girls who were pure victims also showed more externalizing problems than controls. Compared with controls and pure victims, bully/victims showed more internalizing problems, more externalizing problems, and fewer prosocial behaviors when they were 5 and 7 years. They also were less happy at school compared with control children at 7 years of age. Pure victims and bully/victims showed more behavior and school adjustment problems at 7 years of age, even after controlling for preexisting adjustment problems at 5 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: Being the victim of a bully during the first years of schooling contributes to maladjustment in young children. Prevention and intervention programs aimed at reducing mental health problems during childhood should target bullying as an important risk factor.

Child↗
PubMed2005

Moderation of the effect of adolescent-onset cannabis use on adult psychosis by a functional polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene: longitudinal evidence of a gene X environment interaction.

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence documents that cannabis use by young people is a modest statistical risk factor for psychotic symptoms in adulthood, such as hallucinations and delusions, as well as clinically significant schizophrenia. The vast majority of cannabis users do not develop psychosis, however, prompting us to hypothesize that some people are genetically vulnerable to the deleterious effects of cannabis. METHODS: In a longitudinal study of a representative birth cohort followed to adulthood, we tested why cannabis use is associated with the emergence of psychosis in a minority of users, but not in others. RESULTS: A functional polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene moderated the influence of adolescent cannabis use on developing adult psychosis. Carriers of the COMT valine158 allele were most likely to exhibit psychotic symptoms and to develop schizophreniform disorder if they used cannabis. Cannabis use had no such adverse influence on individuals with two copies of the methionine allele. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence of a gene x environment interaction and suggest that a role of some susceptibility genes is to influence vulnerability to environmental pathogens.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Maternal depression and children's antisocial behavior: nature and nurture effects.

BACKGROUND: Children of depressed mothers have elevated conduct problems, presumably because maternal depression disrupts the caregiving environment. Alternatively, the association between maternal depression and children's antisocial behavior (ASB) may come about because (1) depressed women are likely to have comorbid antisocial personality traits, (2) depressed women are likely to mate and bear children with antisocial men, or (3) children of depressed mothers inherit a genetic liability for psychopathology. METHOD: We used data from the E-Risk Study, a representative British cohort of 1116 twin pairs assessed at 5 and 7 years of age. We tested for environmental mediation of the association between maternal depression during the children's first 5 years of life and children's ASB at age 7 years, free from familial liability for ASB. RESULTS: Maternal depression occurring after, but not before, the twins' birth was associated with child ASB and showed a significant dose-response relationship with child ASB at 7 years of age. Parental history of ASPD symptoms accounted for approximately one third of the observed association between maternal depression and children's ASB, but maternal depression continued to significantly predict children's ASB. Intraindividual change analyses indicated that children exposed to their mother's depression between ages 5 and 7 years showed a subsequent increase in ASB by age 7 years. The combination of depression and ASPD symptoms in mothers posed the greatest risk for children's ASB. CONCLUSIONS: Studies ignoring genetic transmission overestimate social transmission effects because both genetic and environmental processes are involved in creating risk for ASB in children of depressed mothers. Interventions for depressed mothers aiming to reduce conduct problems in their children should address parents' antisocial personality, as well as mothers' depression.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Strategy for investigating interactions between measured genes and measured environments.

The purpose of this article is to promote research that tests hypotheses of measured gene-environment interaction (GxE). A GxE occurs when the effect of exposure to an environmental pathogen on health is conditional on a person's genotype (or conversely, when environmental experience moderates genes' effects on health). Gene-environment interactions were thought to be rare in psychiatry, but empirical findings of measured GxEs are now emerging. However, the current high level of curiosity about GxE is accompanied by uncertainty about the feasibility of GxE research and by pragmatic questions about how to carry out good GxE studies. First, we summarize emerging evidence about GxE in psychiatric disorders. Second, we describe 7 strategic steps that may be used to organize further hypothesis-driven studies of GxE. Third, we explain the potential benefits of the measured-GxE approach for basic neuroscience and for gene hunting. We suggest that in psychiatric genetics, ignoring nurture handicaps the field's capacity to make new discoveries about nature.

Environment↗
PubMed2005

Personality and problem gambling: a prospective study of a birth cohort of young adults.

CONTEXT: Individual differences in dimensions of personality may play an important role in explaining risk for disordered gambling behavior as well as the comorbidity between disordered gambling behavior and other substance-related addictive disorders. OBJECTIVES: To identify the personality correlates of problem gambling in a representative non-treatment-seeking sample, as well as to determine whether these are similar to the personality correlates of other substance-related addictive disorders and whether individual differences in personality might account for the comorbidity between disordered gambling behavior and other substance-related addictive disorders. DESIGN: Longitudinal population-based study. PARTICIPANTS: A complete birth cohort of young adults born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1, 1972, and March 31, 1973 (N = 939; 475 men, 464 women). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire assessments of personality were obtained at age 18 years; structured interview-based diagnoses of past-year problem gambling and alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine dependence were obtained at age 21 years. RESULTS: Problem gambling at age 21 years was associated with higher scores on the higher-order personality dimension of negative emotionality (d = 0.90) and with lower scores on the personality dimension of constraint (d = -0.72) measured at age 18 years compared with control subjects who did not have a past-year addictive disorder at age 21 years. Problem gambling was also associated with Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire indicators of risk-taking (d = 0.50) and impulsivity (d = 0.56). The personality profile associated with problem gambling was similar to the profiles associated with alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine dependence. The relations between problem gambling and the substance-related addictive disorders (odds ratios = 3.32-3.61) were reduced after controlling for individual differences in personality (odds ratios = 1.90-2.32). CONCLUSIONS: From the perspective of personality, problem gambling has much in common with the addictive disorders, as well as with the larger class of "externalizing" or "disinhibitory" disorders. Knowledge gained from the study of common personality underpinnings may be helpful in determining where disordered gambling behavior should reside in our diagnostic classification system.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Adolescent psychopathy and the big five: results from two samples.

The present study examines the relation between psychopathy and the Big Five dimensions of personality in two samples of adolescents. Specifically, the study tests the hypothesis that the aspect of psychopathy representing selfishness, callousness, and interpersonal manipulation (Factor 1) is most strongly associated with low Agreeableness, whereas the aspect of psychopathy representing impulsivity, instability, and social deviance (Factor 2) is associated with low Agreeableness, low Conscientiousness, and high Neuroticism. Data from 13- and 16-year-old boys and their mothers from two samples of the Pittsburgh Youth Study are used to test these hypotheses. Results were consistent across age and rating source in supporting the initial hypotheses, providing support for the construct of juvenile psychopathy and the interpretation of psychopathy as a constellation of traits drawn from a general model of personality functioning.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Prospective longitudinal associations between persistent sleep problems in childhood and anxiety and depression disorders in adulthood.

The objective of this study was to examine the associations between persistent childhood sleep problems and adulthood anxiety and depression. Parents of 943 children (52% male) participating in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study provided information on their children's sleep and internalizing problems at ages 5, 7, and 9 years. When the participants were 21 and 26 years, adult anxiety and depression were diagnosed using a standardized diagnostic interview. After controlling for childhood internalizing problems, sex, and socioeconomic status, persistent sleep problems in childhood predicted adulthood anxiety disorders (OR (95% CI) = 1.60 (1.05-2.45), p = .030) but not depressive disorders (OR (95% CI) = .99 (.63-1.56), p = .959). Persistent sleep problems in childhood may be an early risk indicator of anxiety in adulthood.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Psychometric evaluation of 5- and 7-year-old children's self-reports of conduct problems.

Past research suggests that young children are incapable of reporting information about their own behavior problems. To test this, we examined the validity and the usefulness of children's self-reports in the E-Risk Study, a nationally representative birth cohort of 2,232 children. We used the Berkeley Puppet Interview to obtain children's self-reports of conduct problems when they were 5-years old and the Dominic-R when they were 7-years old. We also collected information about the children and their families by interviewing mothers, sending questionnaires to teachers, and rating examiners' observations during home visits. Results indicate that when children's self-reports are gathered with structured and developmentally appropriate instruments, they are shown to be valid measures: conduct problems reported by the children themselves were associated with known correlates including individual characteristics (e.g., IQ), related behaviors (e.g., hyperactivity), and family variables (e.g., economic disadvantages). Observed correlations closely matched effect sizes reported in the literature using adults' reports of children's behavioral problems. In addition, children's self-reports can be useful: both measures distinguished children meeting DSM-IV criteria for research diagnoses of conduct disorder. Children's reports also contributed unique information not provided by adults. For research and clinical purposes, young children's self-reports can be viewed as a valuable complement to adults' ratings and observational measures of children's behavior problems.

Achievement↗
PubMed2005

Nature X nurture: genetic vulnerabilities interact with physical maltreatment to promote conduct problems.

Maltreatment places children at risk for psychiatric morbidity, especially conduct problems. However, not all maltreated children develop conduct problems. We tested whether the effect of physical maltreatment on risk for conduct problems was strongest among those who were at high genetic risk for these problems using data from the E-risk Study, a representative cohort of 1,116 5-year-old British twin pairs and their families. Children's conduct problems were ascertained via parent and teacher interviews. Physical maltreatment was ascertained via parent report. Children's genetic risk for conduct problems was estimated as a function of their co-twin's conduct disorder status and the pair's zygosity. The effect of maltreatment on risk for conduct problems was strongest among those at high genetic risk. The experience of maltreatment was associated with an increase of 2% in the probability of a conduct disorder diagnosis among children at low genetic risk for conduct disorder but an increase of 24% among children at high genetic risk. Prediction of behavioral pathology can attain greater accuracy if both pathogenic environments and genetic risk are ascertained. Certain genotypes may promote resistance to trauma. Physically maltreated children whose first-degree relatives engage in antisocial behavior warrant priority for therapeutic intervention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Neurocognitive impairments in boys on the life-course persistent antisocial path.

This study addresses 5 unresolved issues in the neuropsychology of antisocial behavior using a community sample of 325 school boys in whom neurocognitive measures were assessed at age 16-17 years. Antisocial behavior measures collected from age 7-17 years were cluster analyzed and produced 4 groups: control, childhood-limited, adolescent-limited, and life-course persistent. Those on the lifecourse persistent path and also on the childhood-limited path were particularly impaired on spatial and memory functions. Impairments were independent of abuse, psychosocial adversity, head injury, and hyperactivity. Findings provide some support for the life-course persistent versus adolescent-limited theory of antisocial behavior and suggest that (a) neurocognitive impairments are profound and not artifactual and (b) childhood-limited antisocials may not be free of long-lasting functional impairment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Low self-esteem is related to aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency.

The present research explored the controversial link between global self-esteem and externalizing problems such as aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. In three studies, we found a robust relation between low self-esteem and externalizing problems. This relation held for measures of self-esteem and externalizing problems based on self-report, teachers' ratings, and parents' ratings, and for participants from different nationalities (United States and New Zealand) and age groups (adolescents and college students). Moreover, this relation held both cross-sectionally and longitudinally and after controlling for potential confounding variables such as supportive parenting, parent-child and peer relationships, achievement-test scores, socioeconomic status, and IQ. In addition, the effect of self-esteem on aggression was independent of narcissism, an important finding given recent claims that individuals who are narcissistic, not low in self-esteem, are aggressive. Discussion focuses on clarifying the relations among self-esteem, narcissism, and externalizing problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Personality development: stability and change.

In this review, we evaluate four topics in the study of personality development where discernible progress has been made since 1995 (the last time the area of personality development was reviewed in this series). We (a) evaluate research about the structure of personality in childhood and in adulthood, with special attention to possible developmental changes in the lower-order components of broad traits; (b) summarize new directions in behavioral genetic studies of personality; (c) synthesize evidence from longitudinal studies to pinpoint where and when in the life course personality change is most likely to occur; and (d) document which personality traits influence social relationships, status attainment, and health, and the mechanisms by which these personality effects come about. In each of these four areas, we note gaps and identify priorities for further research.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Validity of DSM-IV conduct disorder in 41/2-5-year-old children: a longitudinal epidemiological study.

OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal study of a nonreferred, population-based sample tested the concurrent, convergent, and predictive validity of DSM-IV conduct disorder in children 4(1/2)-5 years of age. METHOD: In the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a representative birth cohort of 2,232 children, the children's mothers were interviewed and the teachers completed mailed questionnaires to assess the children's past 6-month conduct disorder symptoms. Children with three or more symptoms were diagnosed with conduct disorder, and a subset with five or more symptoms was diagnosed with "moderate-to-severe" conduct disorder. RESULTS: The prevalence of conduct disorder and moderate-to-severe conduct disorder were 6.6% and 2.5%, respectively. Children diagnosed with conduct disorder were significantly more likely than comparison subjects to self-report antisocial behaviors, to behave disruptively during observational assessment, and to have risk factors known to be associated with conduct disorder in older children (effect sizes ranging from 0.26 to 1.24). Five-year-olds diagnosed with conduct disorder were significantly more likely than comparison subjects to have behavioral and educational difficulties at age 7. Increased risk for educational difficulties at age 7 persisted after control for IQ and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis at age 5. CONCLUSIONS: Behavioral problems of preschool-age children meeting diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder should not be ignored. Appropriate intervention should be provided to prevent ongoing behavioral and academic problems.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Mental disorder and violent victimization in a total birth cohort.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the association between mental disorder and violent victimization in a general population sample. METHODS: We performed a multivariate analysis of violent victimization in a 12-month period on a total birth cohort with follow-up data that assessed, during their 21st year, males and females born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in the early 1970s. RESULTS: Compared with people with no mental disorder, (1) people with anxiety disorders experienced more sexual assaults, (2) people with schizophreniform disorders experienced more threatened and completed physical assaults, (3) people with alcohol dependence disorders experienced more completed physical assaults, and (4) people with marijuana dependence disorders experienced more attempted physical assaults. These results held after control for psychiatric comorbidity, demographic characteristics, and the study participants' own violent behavior. CONCLUSION: Mentally disordered young adults tend to experience more violent victimization in the community than those without a mental disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Sex differences in developmental reading disability: new findings from 4 epidemiological studies.

CONTEXT: An influential article published in 1990 claimed that the increased rate of reading disability in boys was a consequence of referral bias. OBJECTIVES: To summarize the history of research on sex differences in reading disability and to provide new evidence from 4 independent epidemiological studies about the nature, extent, and significance of sex differences in reading disability. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study comprised 989 individuals (52.1% male) in a cohort born between April 1972 and March 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand, and followed up from age 3 years; reading performance and IQ were assessed at ages 7, 9, and 11 years using the Burt Word Reading Test and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), respectively. The Christchurch Health and Development Study comprised 895 individuals (50% male) in a prospectively studied cohort born in the Christchurch, New Zealand, region during a 4-month period in 1977; reading performance and IQ were assessed at ages 8 to 10 years using the Burt Word Reading Test and the WISC-R. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Study comprised a UK nationally representative sample of 5752 children (50.1% male) aged 9 to 15 years in 1999; reading was assessed on the British Ability Scales II and IQ on the British Picture Vocabulary Scales II. The Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study (E-Risk) comprised 2163 twin children from England and Wales (49.1% male) identified at birth in 1994 and 1995 and included administration of the Test of Word Reading Efficiency at age 7 years and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised as a test of IQ at age 5 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Reading performance by sex in the lowest 15% of the distribution for all 4 studies, with and without taking IQ into account. RESULTS: In all 4 studies, the rates of reading disability were significantly higher in boys. For non-IQ-referenced reading disability: Dunedin study, 21.6% in boys vs 7.9% in girls (odds ratio [OR], 3.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.15-4.17); Christchurch study, 20.6% in boys vs 9.8% in girls (OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.62-3.50); ONS study, 17.6% in boys vs 13.0% in girls (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.23-1.65); and E-Risk, 18.0% in boys vs 13.0% in girls (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.04-1.86). The rates for IQ-referenced reading disabilities were similar. CONCLUSION: Reading disabilities are clearly more frequent in boys than in girls.

Aptitude Tests↗
PubMed2004

Prenatal smoking and early childhood conduct problems: testing genetic and environmental explanations of the association.

BACKGROUND: Extensive evidence now supports a statistical association between prenatal smoking and increased risk for antisocial outcomes in offspring. Though this statistical link may signal a causal association, commentators have urged caution in interpreting findings because of the likelihood of confounding. METHODS: We used data from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a representative British sample of 1116 twin pairs studied at ages 5 and 7 years, to assess associations between prenatal smoking and early childhood conduct problems net of the effects of both heritable and environmental risks for child antisocial outcomes. RESULTS: Prenatal smoking showed a strong, dose-response relationship with child conduct problems at ages 5 and 7 years. Around half of this association was attributable to correlated genetic effects. Mothers who smoked during pregnancy differed from other mothers in a number of ways. They were more likely to be antisocial, had children with more antisocial men, were bringing up their children in more disadvantaged circumstances, and were more likely to have had depression. Controlling for antisocial behavior in both parents, depression in mothers, family disadvantage, and genetic influences, estimates for the effects of prenatal smoking were reduced by between 75% and the entire initial effects. CONCLUSIONS: Observed associations between prenatal smoking and childhood conduct problems are likely to be heavily confounded with other known risks for children's behavioral development. As a result, tests of any causal influence of prenatal smoking must await findings from experimental studies.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Substance abuse hinders desistance in young adults' antisocial behavior.

We examined two hypotheses about the developmental relation between substance abuse and individual differences in desistance from antisocial behavior during young adulthood. The "snares" hypothesis posits that substance abuse should result in time-specific elevations in antisocial behavior relative to an individual's own developmental trajectory of antisocial behavior, whereas the "launch" hypothesis posits that substance abuse early in young adulthood slows an individual's overall pattern of crime desistance relative to the population norm during this developmental period. We conducted latent trajectory analyses to test these hypotheses using interview data about antisocial behaviors and substance abuse assessed at ages 18, 21, and 26 in men from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (N = 461). We found significant individual variability in initial levels and rates of change in antisocial behavior over time as well as support for both the snares hypothesis and the launch hypothesis as explanations for the developmental relation between substance abuse and crime desistance in young men.

Adolescent↗