Personality and emotional processing: A relationship between extraversion and the late positive potential in adolescence

Neuroticism and extraversion are multifaceted affective‐laden personality traits that have been associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). Research and theory have argued that extraversion, and particularly its facet positive emotionality, is specific to MDD, while neuroticism is common across internalizing disorders. Converging evidence has suggested that MDD is associated with reduced engagement with emotional stimuli, but it remains unclear whether either extraversion, neuroticism, or both modulate reactivity to emotional cues. The late positive potential (LPP) is an event‐related brain potential that is uniquely suited to assess engagement with emotional stimuli because it reflects sustained attention toward emotional content. The current study examined the LPP in relation to personality traits that may confer risk for depression by examining the relationship between the LPP and both neuroticism and extraversion in never‐depressed adolescent girls. Specifically, 550 girls aged 13.5–15.5 with no lifetime history of depression completed an emotional picture‐viewing task, and the LPP was measured in response to neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant pictures. Personality traits were gathered via self‐ and informant report. Results indicated that high extraversion was associated with a potentiated LPP to emotional pictures—and this effect was accounted for by positive emotionality in particular. In contrast, there was no association between the LPP and neuroticism or its facets. The present study is one of the first to demonstrate that extraversion is associated with variation in neural indices of emotional picture processing, similar to what has been observed among individuals with depression and at high risk for depression.     

An Affect-Based,Hierarchical Model of Temperament and Its Relations With Internalizing Symptomatology

Examined the tripartite model of personality, which emphasizes negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA) as central organizing dimensions of personality that are useful for discriminating psychopathologies. Conceptualizations of youth temperament also include second-order, organizing factors of negative emotionality/ neuroticism and positive emotionality/extroversion that may differentially predict psychopathologies. A community sample of 290 10- to 17-year-old youth completed the Emotionality, Activity, and Sociability Temperament Survey (EAS), Positive and Negative Affectivity Schedule, and measures of symptoms of anxiety and depression. Factor analysis replicated the 5-factor structure of the EAS and revealed 2 independent second-order factors, negative temperament (NT) and positive temperament (PT). NT and PT demonstrated convergent and discriminant relations with NA and PA. Consistent with the tripartite model, NT was associated with both anxiety and depression scores, but PT was related to depression scores only.     

Ego-resiliency in borderline personality disorder and the mediating role of positive and negative affect on its associations with symptom severity and quality of life in daily life

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental health condition associated with severe symptoms of distress and poor quality of life (QoL). Research outside the field of BPD suggests that ego-resiliency is negatively associated with psychopathology and positively associated with a range of positive life outcomes. Thus, ego-resiliency may be a valuable construct for furthering our understanding and treatment of BPD. However, the mechanisms linking ego-resiliency to psychopathology and QoL in relation to BPD have not been examined and explored by research. This study has addressed this gap in the collective knowledge by evaluating whether within-person associations between daily reports of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) mediated the relationship between ego-resiliency, BPD symptom severity, and QoL. For 21 consecutive days, 72 women diagnosed with BPD completed end-of-day electronic assessments regarding ego-resiliency, PA and NA, symptom severity, and QoL. Multilevel structural equation modelling established that PA and NA were parallel mediators linking ego-resiliency with BPD symptom severity and QoL. As hypothesized, the path to QoL was stronger through PA than through NA. The mediation paths through NA and PA to BPD symptom severity were both significant, but their strength did not differ. Our findings align with the assertions of theories on emotion, thus suggesting a two-factor approach to PA and NA. Future research can build on these findings by developing psychotherapeutic interventions designed not only to reduce symptom severity but also to enhance PA in individuals with BPD and determine whether an increase in PA is associated with improved QoL.     

Pupillary reactivity to negative stimuli prospectively predicts recurrence of major depressive disorder in women

There is a large body of research supporting the association between disrupted physiological reactivity to negative stimuli and depression. The present study aimed to examine whether physiological reactivity to emotional stimuli, assessed via pupil dilation, served as a biological marker of risk for depression recurrence among individuals who are known to be at a higher risk due to having previous history of depression. Participants were 57 women with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD). Pupil dilation to angry, happy, sad, and neutral faces was recorded. Participants' diagnoses and symptoms were assessed 24 months after the initial assessment. We found that women's pupillary reactivity to negative (sad or angry faces) but not positive stimuli prospectively predicted MDD recurrence. Additionally, we found that both hyper‐ and hypopupillary reactivity to angry faces predicted risk for MDD recurrence. These findings suggest that disrupted physiological response to negative stimuli indexed via pupillary dilation could serve as a physiological marker of MDD risk, thus presenting clinicians with a convenient and inexpensive method to predict which of the at‐risk women are more likely to experience depression recurrence.     

Psychological, autonomic, and serotonergic correlates of parasuicide among adolescent girls

Although parasuicidal behavior in adolescence is poorly understood, evidence suggests that it may be a developmental precursor of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Current theories of both parasuicide and BPD suggest that emotion dysregulation is the primary precipitant of self-injury, which serves to dampen overwhelmingly negative affect. To date, however, no studies have assessed endophenotypic markers of emotional responding among parasuicidal adolescents. In the present study, we compare parasuicidal adolescent girls (n=23) with age-matched controls (n=23) on both psychological and physiological measures of emotion regulation and psychopathology. Adolescents, parents, and teachers completed questionnaires assessing internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, substance use, trait affectivity, and histories of parasuicide. Psychophysiological measures including electrodermal responding (EDR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) were collected at baseline, during negative mood induction, and during recovery. Compared with controls, parasuicidal adolescents exhibited reduced respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at baseline, greater RSA reactivity during negative mood induction, and attenuated peripheral serotonin levels. No between-group differences on measures of PEP or EDR were found. These results lend further support to theories of emotion dysregulation and impulsivity in parasuicidal teenage girls.     

Trait Affectivity and Nonreferred Adolescent Conduct Problems

This study examined for profiles of positive trait affectivity (PA) and negative trait affectivity (NA) associated with adolescent conduct problems. Prior trait affectivity research has been relatively biased toward the assessment of adults and internalizing symptomatology. Consistent with recent developmental modeling of antisocial behavior, this study proposed that conduct problems are uniquely associated with 2 PA-NA profiles (i.e., high PA-high NA and low PA-low NA). A nonreferred sample of 109 adolescents ages 12 to 19 was recruited to assess the independent relations between rating scale measures of the PA-NA dimensions and conduct problems, controlling for related internalizing (anxiety and depression) and externalizing (hyperactivity-impulsivity) symptomatology. The results generally confirmed the proposed interaction between the PA-NA dimensions in the prediction of adolescent conduct problems.     

Trait affectivity and non-referred adolescent conduct problems.

This study examined for profiles of positive trait affectivity (PA) and negative trait affectivity (NA) associated with adolescent conduct problems. Prior trait affectivity research has been relatively biased toward the assessment of adults and internalizing symptomatology. Consistent with recent developmental modeling of antisocial behavior, this study proposed that conduct problems are uniquely associated with 2 PA-NA profiles (i.e., high PA-high NA and low PA-low NA). A non-referred sample of 109 adolescents ages 12 to 19 was recruited to assess the independent relations between rating scale measures of the PA-NA dimensions and conduct problems, controlling for related internalizing (anxiety and depression) and externalizing (hyperactivity-impulsivity) symptomatology. The results generally confirmed the proposed interaction between the PA-NA dimensions in the prediction of adolescent conduct problems.     

Personality and self-report of cognitive functioning.

We examined the relationship of trait personality dimensions (negative affectivity and positive affectivity) on self-report of cognitive functioning. Ninety-six subjects who were screened to be without evidence of psychiatric or neurologic disorder, and who had previously completed the Tellegen Differential Personality Questionnaire (mean interval = 2 years) were sent a self-report questionnaire of cognitive functioning (MASQ). As predicted, negative affectivity (NA) was more strongly related to self-appraisal of cognitive functioning than was positive affectivity (PA); subjects with higher NA scores acknowledged more cognitive difficulties. Negative affectivity was also a stronger predictor of cognitive self-report than was self-report of current sad mood state. The implications of these findings for the examination of self-appraisal and accuracy of self-report are discussed.     

A meta-analysis of emotional reactivity in major depressive disorder

Three alternative views regarding how Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) alters emotional reactivity have been featured in the literature: positive attenuation (reduced positive reactivity), negative potentiation (increased negative reactivity), and emotion context insensitivity (ECI; reduced positive and negative reactivity). Although empirical studies have accumulated on emotional reactivity in MDD, this report is to our knowledge the first systematic quantitative review of this topic area. In omnibus analyses of 19 laboratory studies comparing the emotional reactivity of healthy individuals to that of individuals with MDD, MDD was characterized by reduced emotional reactivity to both positively and negatively valenced stimuli, with the reduction larger for positive stimuli (d=-.53) than for negative stimuli (d=-.25). Results were similar when 3 major emotion response systems (self-reported experience, expressive behavior, and peripheral physiology) were analyzed individually. The ECI view of emotional reactivity in MDD is well supported by laboratory data. Implications for the understanding of emotions in MDD are discussed.     

The Relevance of Informant Discrepancies for the Assessment of Adolescent Personality Pathology

In this article, we compare the nature and function of self‐parent informant discrepancies for adolescent personality pathology using two methods: standard difference scores (SDS) and polynomial regressions. In total, 489 11‐ to 18‐year‐old youth (54% female) and their parents reported on youth personality pathology traits and general psychopathology. Findings supported convergence and divergence in parent‐ and self‐reports. Potential utility of informant discrepancies also emerged, such that discrepancies on trait disagreeableness and trait compulsivity predicted youth externalizing problems using the SDS approach and the polynomial regression approach; however, the polynomial regression approach yielded a more complex and nuanced characterization of informant discrepancies than did the SDS approach. Taken together, these results suggest that polynomial regressions may provide a more comprehensive picture regarding the meaning and utility of informant discrepancies.     

Increased neural sensitivity to self‐relevant stimuli in major depressive disorder

The current research examined how individuals with depression process emotional, self‐relevant stimuli. Across two studies, individuals with depression and healthy controls read stimuli that varied in self‐relevance while EEG data were recorded. We examined the late positive potential (LPP), an ERP component that captures the dynamic allocation of attention to motivationally salient stimuli. In Study 1, participants read single words in a passive‐viewing task. Participants viewed negative, positive, or neutral words that were either normative or self‐generated. Exploratory analyses indicated that participants with depression exhibited affective modulation of the LPP for self‐generated stimuli only (both positive and negative) and not for normative stimuli; healthy controls exhibited similar affective modulation of the LPP for both self‐relevant and normative stimuli. In Study 2, using a separate sample and a different task, stimuli were provided within the context of sentence stems referring to the self or other people. Participants with depression were more likely to endorse negative self‐referent sentences and reject positive ones compared to healthy controls. Depressed participants also exhibited an increased LPP to negative stimuli compared to positive or neutral stimuli. Together, these two studies suggest that depression is characterized by relatively increased sensitivity to affective self‐relevant stimuli, perhaps in the context of a broader reduction in emotional reactivity to stimuli that are not self‐relevant. Thus, depression may be characterized by a more nuanced pattern based on the degree of stimulus self‐relevance than either a global decrease or increase in reactivity to affective stimuli.     

The Role of Separation-Individuation Experiences and Personality in Predicting Externalizing and Internalizing Dimensions of Functional Impairment in a Rural Preadolescent and Adolescent Sample

Studied 4th- through 8th-grade students in a rural school district (N = 382, 201 girls; M age = 12.48) who, at the end of the academic year, completed self-report measures assessing functional impairment, self-concept, reactance, and autonomy experiences in relation to parents. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a distinction between 2 aspects of autonomy: mutuality (perceptions of parents as encouraging of autonomy) and conflictual dependence (negative representations of "self-in-relation-to-parent" and related feelings of anger and shame). Path analysis findings mostly were consistent with a mediated model predicting personality from autonomy experiences and functional impairment from personality. However, conflictual dependence rather than negative self-feelings directly predicted girls' emotional difficulties. Comparisons of total effects suggested that conflictual dependence may have stronger and more consistent implications for adolescent psychopathology than mutuality. In general, significant relations between conflictual dependence and psychopathology remained significant even after controlling for a measure of negative affectivity (NA).     

Development of an early memories of warmth and safeness scale and its relationship to psychopathology

Experiences of early childhood have a major impact on physiological, psychological, and social aspects of maturation and functioning. One avenue of work explores the recall and memory of positive or negative rearing experiences and their association with psychopathology measures. However, while many self‐report studies have focused on the recall of parental behaviours this study developed a new measure called the early memories of warmth and safeness scale (EMWSS), which focuses on recall of one's own inner positive feelings, emotions and experiences in childhood. Student participants (N=180) completed the new scale and a series of self‐report scales measuring different types of early recall, psychopathology, types of positive affect, and self‐criticism/reassurance. The EMWSS was found to have good psychometric properties and reliability. Recall of parental behaviour and recall of positive emotional memories were highly related, but recall of positive emotional memories was a better predictor of psychopathology, styles of self‐criticism/self‐reassurance and disposition to experience positive affect, than recall of parental behaviour.     

A double dissociation between mood states and personality traits in the anterior cingulate

Neuroticism and extraversion are personality traits associated with negative and positive mood states, respectively, confounding trait and state factors that may affect brain responses to emotional stimuli. The authors dissociated these factors using fMRI and the emotional Stroop attention task: Anterior cingulate (AC) response to positive stimuli varied as a function of personality trait, but not mood state, whereas AC response to negative stimuli varied as a function of mood state, but not personality trait. Negative mood, but not personality trait, also increased the functional connectivity between AC and other regions. Variance in AC activation can thus be ascribed to an intersubject variable (extraversion) when responding to positive stimuli and an intrasubject variable (mood) when responding to negative stimuli. The former may explain stable differences between extraverts and introverts. The latter may provide an adaptive mechanism to expand an individual's dynamic range in response to potentially dangerous or threatening stimuli.     

Borderline Personality Disorder in Adolescents

Sizeable numbers of youth in community and clinical settings meet diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Early assessment and treatment may positively alter the life‐course trajectory of young people with BPD and reduce future suffering and impairment. This article reviews the potential etiological bases of BPD, including genetic, neurobiological, social‐cognitive, and the biosocial theory. Prospective, retrospective, and correlational research including infant and child temperament, internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, as well as suicidal and nonsuicidal self‐injurious behaviors provide additional information to better understand potential risk factors for the development of BPD as well as points for intervention (e.g., emotion regulation). To date, dialectical behavior therapy and mentalization‐based treatment appear promising as effective treatments for adolescents who carry at least three borderline personality features in addition to self‐harm. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Poor reported sleep quality predicts low positive affect in daily life among healthy and mood‐disordered persons

Sleep disturbance is a core symptom of mood disorders. However, surprisingly little is known about the relationship between sleep quality and ambulatory daily mood, especially in mood‐disordered populations. We assessed ambulatory positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) 10 times daily for three consecutive days with the computerized experience sampling method among persons with major depression (n = 35), minor depression (n = 25) and healthy controls (n = 36). Sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Poorer sleep quality predicted lower ambulatory PA, even after accounting for the effects of diagnostic group and self‐reported anxiety. Conversely, sleep quality did not predict ambulatory NA once diagnostic group was accounted for. Analyzes of specific PSQI component scores indicated that poor subjective sleep quality and self‐reported daytime dysfunction were the sleep components most strongly tied to reports of low ambulatory PA. Impaired sleep quality may be responsible for reduced pleasurable experience in everyday life.     

Emotional reactivity and regulation in individuals with psychopathic traits: Evidence for a disconnect between neurophysiology and self‐report

Individuals with psychopathic traits often demonstrate blunted reactivity to negative emotional stimuli. However, it is not yet clear whether these individuals also have difficulty regulating their emotional responses to negative stimuli. To address this question, participants with varying levels of psychopathic traits (indexed by the Triarchic Measure of Psychopathy; Patrick, 2010) completed a task in which they passively viewed, increased, or decreased their emotions to negative picture stimuli while electrocortical activity was recorded. During passive viewing of negative images, higher boldness, but not higher disinhibition or meanness, was associated with reduced amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP), an ERP that indexes reactivity to emotionally relevant stimuli. However, all participants demonstrated expected enhancement of the LPP when asked to increase their emotional response. Participants did not show expected suppression of the LPP when asked to decrease their emotional response. Contrary to the electrophysiological data, individuals with higher boldness did not self‐report experiencing blunted emotional response during passive viewing trials, and they reported experiencing greater emotional reactivity relative to other participants when regulating (e.g., both increasing and decreasing) their emotions. Results suggest inconsistency between physiological and self‐report indices of emotion among high‐bold individuals during both affective processing and regulation.     

生活事件、社会支持、应对方式对消极情感、社会抑制的影响——基于大学生样本的研究

目的探讨生活事件、社会支持、应对方式等有关因素与消极情感、社会抑制之间的关系。方法使用生活事件、社会支持、特质应对方式、心身反应量表和张勇、张亚林等修订的消极情感和社会抑制量表,调查了350名在校大学生。结果发现了工作学习事件是通过情绪反应的中介作用来影响个体消极情感、社会抑制,所构建的关系模型的各项拟合指标均可以接受,且不存在共同方法偏差。结论工作学习事件通过情绪反应的中介作用,影响个体消极情感、社会抑制;社会支持负向影响情绪反应,消极应对正向影响情绪反应,二者通过情绪反应作用于消极情感和社会抑制;积极应对负向影响消极情感和社会抑制,社会支持负向影响社会抑制。     

Reduced positive emotion and underarousal are uniquely associated with subclinical depression symptoms: Evidence from psychophysiology,self‐report,and symptom clusters

Multiple models of aberrant emotional processing in depression have been advanced. However, it is unclear which of these models best applies to emotional disturbances in subclinical depressive symptoms. The current study employed a battery of psychophysiological measures and emotional ratings in a picture‐viewing paradigm to examine whether the underarousal, low positive emotion, heightened negative emotion, or emotion context insensitivity model of emotional dysfunction in subclinical depressive symptoms received greatest support. Postauricular reflex and skin conductance response potentiation for pleasant minus neutral pictures (measuring low positive emotion), overall skin conductance magnitude and late positive potential (LPP) amplitude (measuring underarousal), and pleasant minus aversive valence ratings (measuring emotion context insensitivity) and aversive minus neutral arousal ratings (measuring heightened negative emotionality) were all negatively related to depressive symptomatology. Of these, postauricular reflex potentiation and overall LPP amplitude were incrementally associated with depressive symptoms over the other measures. Postauricular reflex potentiation, overall skin conductance magnitude, and aversive minus neutral arousal ratings were incrementally associated with depressive symptomatology after controlling for other symptoms of internalizing disorders. Though no model was unequivocally superior, the low positive emotion and underarousal models received the most support from physiological measures and symptom reports, with self‐report data matching patterns consistent with the emotion context insensitivity model.