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H H Goldsmith

Publications and source records attributed to H H Goldsmith.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

A population-based twin study of parentally reported tactile and auditory defensiveness in young children.

Some adults and children exhibit defensive behaviors to tactile or auditory stimulation. These symptoms occur not only in subsets of children with ADHD, autism, and Fragile X syndrome, but also in the apparent absence of accompanying disorders. Relatively little research explores the correlates and antecedents of sensory defensiveness. Using a population-based sample of 1,394 toddler-aged twins, mothers reported on tactile and auditory defensiveness, temperament, and behavior problems. The incidence of defensive symptoms was widely distributed, with some accumulation of cases in the extreme range. Girls were overrepresented in the extreme tactile defensiveness group. Both auditory and tactile defensiveness were modestly associated with fearful temperament and anxiety, but they were relatively distinct from other common dimensions of childhood behavioral dysfunction. Twin correlations for the full range of scores and concordance rates for the extremes suggested moderate genetic influences, with some indication that the tactile domain might be more heritable than the auditory domain.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2005

Gaze fixation and the neural circuitry of face processing in autism.

Diminished gaze fixation is one of the core features of autism and has been proposed to be associated with abnormalities in the neural circuitry of affect. We tested this hypothesis in two separate studies using eye tracking while measuring functional brain activity during facial discrimination tasks in individuals with autism and in typically developing individuals. Activation in the fusiform gyrus and amygdala was strongly and positively correlated with the time spent fixating the eyes in the autistic group in both studies, suggesting that diminished gaze fixation may account for the fusiform hypoactivation to faces commonly reported in autism. In addition, variation in eye fixation within autistic individuals was strongly and positively associated with amygdala activation across both studies, suggesting a heightened emotional response associated with gaze fixation in autism.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Genetic, environmental, and gender effects on individual differences in toddler expressive language.

In this article, the authors examined the genetic and environmental factors influencing expressive language development in a sample of 386 toddler twin pairs participating in the Wisconsin Twin Project. Expressive language was assessed using 2 measures from the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories-Short Form: Total Vocabulary and Two-Word Combination Use (L. Fenson et al., 2000). A sex-limitation structural equation model estimated the contribution of genetics, shared environment, and nonshared environment to individual variation. For vocabulary, heritability was higher for boys than for girls (20% vs. 8%). For word combination use, heritability was higher for girls (28% vs. 10%). However, the majority of individual variation in both boys and girls could be attributed to shared environment (54%-78%).

Environment↗
PubMed2000

Linking temperamental fearfulness and anxiety symptoms: a behavior-genetic perspective.

Research on mood and anxiety disorders has historically proceeded without sufficient reference to the growing body of work on the nature of typical emotional development and temperament. Reviewing data from several studies, we consider experiential, biological, and genetic factors as providing causal input to typical developmental variation in fearfulness and anxiety during infancy and early childhood. Longitudinal behavioral methods, psychophysiologic measures, and a behavior-genetic framework are used to approach these issues. Results from twin studies implicate moderately strong genetic influences on different facets of temperamental fearfulness, as well as childhood anxiety symptoms. Then, we consider the distinction between normal range temperament and overt anxiety symptoms from a quantitative genetic perspective. Biological correlates (cortisol, asymmetric frontal EEG activation, cardiac reactivity) of inhibited behavior are considered as related endophenotypes for anxiety. In a nongenetic analysis, we report the prediction of internalizing problems during kindergarten from earlier temperament and earlier basal cortisol measures. Our review highlights connections between behavioral indicators and various putative endophenotypes and the fuzzy boundary between normal-range temperament and anxiety disorders.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1999

Developmental models of infant and childhood temperament.

The developmental courses of specific temperamental constructs were explored by using structural equation model fitting. Maternal ratings were obtained from either 2 or 3 different temperament questionnaires for 180 children at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 months of age. Several formal structural models were fit in infancy (3-18 months), in the toddler-preschooler period (24-48 months), and across all measurement occasions. In infancy, the autoregressive simplex model fit well for all 4 composites considered: Positive Emotionality, Distress-Anger, Fear, and Activity Level. In contrast to the considerable change in temperament during infancy, temperament appears to be very stable from 24 to 48 months of age, and a common factor model fits well with these data. Across all measurement occasions, models that allowed for stability in temperament to be at least partially mediated through intermediate forms of the trait fit best.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1999

Derivation and prediction of temperamental types among preschoolers.

The number and nature of temperamental types in 488 children aged 3 years 6 months was examined on the basis of a broad set of temperamental characteristics, including positive and negative emotionality and the attentional and behavioral control domains. Configural frequency analysis methods showed clear support for two temperament types: controlled-nonexpressive and noncontrolled-expressive. These types showed meaningful differences against external criteria related to a wide range of problem behaviors from the emotional, social, and attentional domains. The reports of problem behaviors were obtained contemporaneously from fathers and caregivers. These findings replicated a year later when children were aged 4 years 6 months. Furthermore, the findings showed that infant and toddler-age temperamental characteristics differentiated these preschool-aged types. The authors discuss the implications of the results for a categorical view of temperament-personality.

Attention↗
PubMed1999

Genetic analyses of focal aspects of infant temperament.

The authors explored the genetic and environmental underpinnings of individual differences in temperament with a sample of 604 3- to 16-month-old infant twins and their parents. Mothers completed Rothbart's Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), and a subsample of 140 9-month-old twins participated in behavioral assessment of temperament in the laboratory as well. For IBQ Smiling and Laughter and Duration of Orienting, both additive genetic and shared environmental effects were needed to best represent the data. Shared environmental effects fully accounted for cotwin similarity for IBQ Soothability, and conversely, additive genetic effects fully accounted for cotwin similarity for the IBQ Distress to Limitations, Distress to Novelty, and Activity Level scales. With the subsample, the authors fit a multivariate model to mother report, father report, and lab measures of stranger distress and found that genetic influences were most important for the covariation among these measures.

Arousal↗
PubMed1998

Developmental psychopathology, personality, and temperament: reflections on recent behavioral genetics research.

Personality, temperament, and psychopathology were until recently largely distinct areas of study, each of which emphasized partitioning of heritable and environmental variance. The emergence of the paradigm of developmental psychopathology along with application of multivariate biometric models to behavioral genetic data has defined a second phase of research in these domains. Integrated research has begun to map dimensional liability-threshold models of psychopathology and to evaluate empirically the categorical versus dimensional etiology of traits and disorders. An interesting pattern in the data is that psychopathology is probably not merely an extreme of temperament or personality in many cases. Variations in temperament and personality are now known to be heavily influenced by additive genetic and nonshared environmental factors and to exhibit stable or increasing heritability across development. This pattern holds for some measures of psychopathology but not for others. For example, shared environment effects and decreasing heritability influence much adolescent psychopathology, and comorbid problems in young children appear to be due in part to shared environment effects. Other recent biometric work on the central problem of comorbidity in psychopathology suggests that shared genetic covariation accounts for some specific comorbidities but not others. A third phase of research is now underway, featuring study of specific molecular gene mechanisms by means of linkage and association studies in relation to behavioral phenotypes. Complementary integration of discoveries from biometric behavioral studies and molecular studies is expected to be the norm for the near future.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Fear and anger regulation in infancy: effects on the temporal dynamics of affective expression.

Emotion regulation has been conceptualized as the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, facilitating, and inhibiting heightened levels of positive and negative affect. Regulation of distress is related to the use of certain behavioral strategies. Our study examined whether putative regulatory behaviors widely assumed to be conceptually associated with these strategies are actually empirically associated with the changes in fearful and angry distress in 6-, 12-, and 18-month-old infants. Our key finding was that the use of some putative regulatory behaviors (e.g., distraction and approach) reduced the observable intensity of anger but were less effective in reducing the intensity of fear. The results suggest (1) caution in assuming that postulated regulatory behaviors actually have general distress-reducing effects and (2) the likelihood that "distress" is too global a construct for research on emotion regulation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

Environmental and genetic variance in children's observed and reported maladaptive behavior.

The genetic and environmental contributions to children's maladaptive behavior are assessed in a sample of 154 twin pairs (77 MZ twin pairs and 77 DZ twin pairs), who range in age from 6 to 11 years. To bridge the strengths of behavioral genetic methods and environmental assessment techniques, we use a multimethod, multimeasure approach to data collection, and analyze the data using behavioral genetic modeling techniques. Results indicate that genetic variation accounts for a majority of the variance in parent-reported child maladaptive behavior (average = 62%). One parent-report measure also suggests a smaller, significant contribution of shared environmental variance. In contrast to the parental ratings, the observational coding and global impressions of parent-twin interactive behavior suggest that shared environment is the primary source of variance accounting for parent and child maladaptive behavior. This is due, in part, to the direct influence one's interactive partner has on the expression of maladaptive behavior in an interactive setting. When controlling for the co-participant's behavior, genetic variation increases and shared environmental variation decreases.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Epigenetic approaches to developmental psychopathology.

We evaluate the usefulness of 11 key epigenetic concepts from the behavior genetic research paradigm for advancing the field of developmental psychopathology. Key assumptions, empirical examples, and caveats in interpreting results are presented. We emphasize the usefulness of incorporating both dimensional (e.g., temperament trait) and categorical (e.g., diagnosis) variables, environmental measures, direct behavioral assessments, and multiple, theoretically relevant occasions of study into classic twin and family studies. We highlight contemporary techniques for identifying specific chromosomal regions associated with behavioral patterns, and the importance of considering nonmendelizing genetic influences when discerning the panorama of genetic influences on behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Origins of familial similarity in parenting: a study of twins and adoptive siblings.

Parents of young children completed questionnaires that assessed attitudes toward parenting and specific parenting practices, the emotional atmosphere of the home, and parental personality. These parents were themselves either identical twins (n = 90), fraternal twins (n = 56), or adoptive siblings (n = 40). Model-fitting results implicate modest genetic effects on affect-related aspects of parenting, such as parental warmth. The results add new dimensions to the growing body of literature that documents genetic influences on measures of the family environment and suggest that child-rearing variables are significantly related to the major factors of parental personality.

Adoption↗
PubMed1997

Toddler and childhood temperament: expanded content, stronger genetic evidence, new evidence for the importance of environment.

Using samples of twins and singletons totaling 715 individuals, the authors document heritable influences on various temperamental dimensions during the toddler and preschooler age ranges, which have been somewhat understudied relative to infants and older adolescents. In contrast to instruments on which prior literature is based, the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire and the Children's Behavior Questionnaire offer assessment of positive affectivity (separately from negative affectivity) and of emotional regulation. Positive affect reveals substantial shared environmental influence, and emotion regulation reveals additive genetic influence. Evidence for genetic variance in temperament is strengthened because intraclass correlations from many of these questionnaire scales show no evidence of "too-low" dizygotic correlations that imply contrast effects. Suggestive evidence is offered that psychometric characteristics of the questionnaires can affect biometric inferences.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Conceptualizing genetic influences on early behavioral development.

The overarching goal of human behavioral genetics is to understand genetic influences on behavior while also considering the complementary influence of the environment. This paper highlights the explicit goals of behavioral genetics, including some that are particularly relevant to the study of human development, and some common misunderstandings concerning the field. Examples are given to illustrate specifically the degree of genetic influence in behaviors representing physical, cognitive and emotional development during infancy using the methodology of twin, adoption and parent-offspring designs. The effect sizes in the prediction of complex behaviors are typically modest, and thus there is ample room for multiple predictors from different domains. Moreover, there is a fundamental recognition that distal and proximal causes can be different in kind, and that factors that play a role in the origins of behavioral dispositions are different from those that elicit or maintain actual behavior.

Child Development↗
PubMed1996

Studying temperament via construction of the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire.

The Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ) was constructed by an iterative process of item generation intended to ensure content validity, by repeated item analyses focused on internal consistency and discriminant properties, and by scale revision. During the construction and initial validation processes reported in this article, data from 1,012 records were utilized. Internal consistency reliability estimates typically exceeded .80 for each scale. Evidence for convergent validity with other temperament questionnaires and for longitudinal stability was also obtained. Besides yielding a promising instrument, this assessment research has conceptual ramifications. For instance, components of negative affectivity (anger proneness and fearfulness) were independent, and item analyses suggested that shyness and other fears were independent as well. Consistent with most current views of temperament, the TBAQ temperament scales revealed some relationship and/or contextual specificity, as exemplified by the finding of only moderate parental agreement. The rank ordering on most temperament dimensions was impressively preserved from age 12 months, when the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) was used, to age 18 months, when the TBAQ was used (especially when subtle differences between the IBQ and TBAQ were taken into account). Most of the analyses benefit from replication.

Child Behavior↗
PubMed1994

Genetics of personality disorders: perspectives from personality and psychopathology research.

Although the field is young, studies pertinent to genetic hypotheses have accumulated for several personality disorders. Genetic links to personality disorders from the domains of normal personality and Axis I disorders are reviewed. Evidence of a link to schizophrenia is clearest for schizotypal and less conclusive for paranoid and schizoid personality disorders. A genetic association between borderline personality disorder and affective disorders has not been clearly supported, but there may be a subtype genetically linked to affective disorders. Evidence of genetic influence is mixed for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. In general, greater attention to dimensional phenotypic measures and multivariate designs can yield more definitive answers regarding the correct subtyping and probable etiology of personality disorders.

Diseases in Twins↗
PubMed1990

Alternative common factor models for multivariate biometric analyses.

In prior research we have shown how linear structural equation models and computer programs (e.g., LISREL) may be simply and directly used to provide alternatives for the traditional biometric twin design. We use structural equations and path models to define biometric group differences, we write traditional common-factor models in the same way, and then we take a detailed look at some alternative multivariate and biometric models. We contrast the biometric-factors covariance structure approach used by Loehlin and Vandenberg (1968), Martin and Eaves (1977), and others with the psychometric-factors approach used by McArdle et al. (1980) and others. We use the multivariate primary mental abilities data on monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins from Loehlin and Vandenberg (1968) to detail fundamental differences in model specification and results. We extend both multivariate biometric approaches using exploratory and confirmatory multiple-factor models. These comparisons show that each alternative multivariate methodology has useful features for empirical applications.

Humans↗