Firearm-related suicide among young african-american males

National trends in firearm-related suicides among African-American and white males in the age groups 15 to 19 years and 20 to 24 years from 1979 to 1997 were examined. The rates and percentages of suicide by firearms increased significantly more among African-American males than among white males. During the 19-year period, firearms accounted for about 70 percent and 64 percent of all suicides among males aged 15 to 19 years and 20 to 24 years, respectively. The results support the Surgeon General's 1999 call for greater awareness of the suicide risk among African-American males.     

Personality traits in young males at risk for hypertension

Individuals at risk for hypertension were identified during a blood pressure survey of males in the 17–39 yr age group. Elevated causal systolic blood pressure was associated with recognized predictors of hypertension (increased average systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body weight and familial history of cardiovascular disease). A combination of Type A behaviour, social desirability and introversion differentiated students with elevated casual systolic blood pressure from normotensive controls. These traits may constitute an additional risk factor for hypertension.     

Recognition of metaphor and irony in young adults: the impact of schizotypal personality traits

Patients with schizophrenia demonstrate two dissociable impairments of pragmatic language comprehension: (1) an insensitivity to irony, which is associated with poor theory-of-mind (i.e. a difficulty with inferring other people's thoughts); and (2) poor recognition of metaphors, which may reflect degraded semantics. This study investigated whether non-clinical high-schizotypal adults show similar impairments of pragmatic language. Thirty-six university students completed the Raine Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, the Wechsler Memory Scale Logical-Memories subtest, Raven's Progressive Matrices and a story comprehension task that tested the ability to discriminate between incongruous statements and appropriate uses of ironical, metaphorical or literal speech. Counter to the pattern found for patients, high-schizotypal adults were just as capable as low-schizotypal adults of identifying appropriate metaphors, suggesting a discontinuity between schizophrenia and schizotypy for the metaphor-recognition problem. This study's finding of intact metaphor recognition in high-schizotypal adults contrasts with previous findings of poor proverb comprehension in these individuals and is interpreted in terms of different semantic processes required for recognizing and interpreting metaphors. Consistent with the pattern found for patients, high-schizotypal adults were significantly impaired in their ability to appreciate when a literally contradictory utterance could be interpreted as ironical, suggesting continuity between schizophrenia and schizotypy for the irony-appreciation problem.     

Police-registered offenses and psychiatric disorders among young males

OBJECTIVE: To study associations between crime and psychiatric disorders among adolescent males in a representative population-based cohort study. METHOD: The sample includes 2,712 Finnish boys born in 1981. Information on criminality consists of offenses registered in the Finnish National Police Register 1998-2001. Crime was classified according to frequency and type (drug, violent, property, traffic, and drunk driving offenses). Information on psychiatric diagnoses between 1999 and 2004 was collected from the Finnish National Military Register. RESULTS: Of the 2,712 boys, 22% had a crime registration during the 4-year period, and 10% had at least one psychiatric disorder according to the Military Register. Those with psychiatric disorders accounted for 49% of all crimes. Of those with more than five crimes (n = 98), 59% had psychiatric diagnoses. After adjusting for other crime types and childhood socio-economic status, property crime was independently associated with several diagnoses: antisocial personality (APD), substance use (SUD), psychotic, anxiety, and adjustment disorders. Drug offending was independently associated with APD, SUD, and psychotic disorder, and traffic offenses with APD. CONCLUSIONS: Youth crime is predominantly associated with antisocial personality and substance use disorders. Crime prevention efforts should focus on boys showing a risk for antisocial and substance use problems. In particular, property, drug, and repeat offenders need mental health and substance use assessment. There is a need to develop integrated mental health and substance use treatment services for young offenders within or alongside the criminal justice system.     

Neuropsychologic profile of college students with schizotypal traits

Background

This study investigated the neuropsychologic functioning in nonclinical individuals with schizotypal traits using a comprehensive battery of neuropsychologic tests.

Method

We measured the neuropsychologic functioning of individuals with psychometrically defined nonclinical schizotypy (n = 28) and healthy controls (n = 31) for verbal memory (the Korean version of the California Verbal Learning Test), nonverbal memory (the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test), executive function (the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), and attention (the d2 Test, Trail Making Test, and Controlled Oral Word Association Test).

Results

The schizotypal trait group committed significantly more total and perseverative errors and completed fewer categories on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test than the control group. Performance on the other neuropsychologic tests did not differ between groups.

Conclusions

The nonclinical individuals with schizotypal traits demonstrated executive dysfunction, showing decreased ability in conceptualization, use of cues, and mental flexibility. Furthermore, these results indicate that the cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia are also a characteristic of nonclinical individuals with schizotypal traits.     

Familial association of schizotypal traits with psychotic and affective disorders

The criteria for schizotypal personality disorder were developed on the basis of traits observed in biologic relatives of schizophrenic and borderline schizophrenic probands from the Danish adoption studies. In this review, the relationship between schizotypal personality disorder and the schizophrenic spectrum, affective disorders, and psychotic disorders is explored. A dimension of psychosis may overlap with the schizophrenia spectrum to yield chronic schizophrenia, with the affective disorders spectrum to yield psychotic affective disorder, or by itself lead to other psychotic disorders. Schizotypal personality disorder in this model is posited to represent schizophrenia spectrum disorder that does not overlap with psychosis, whereas nonpsychotic affective disorders represent the affective disorders that do not overlap with psychosis. Delusional disorder represents another psychotic disorder that is not specifically related to either schizophrenia or the affective disorders. Evidence suggests that the schizotypal personality disorder criteria, particularly those emphasizing the negative symptoms or deficit-like symptoms of this disorder, specifically identify a unique relationship to the schizophrenia spectrum.     

康复期男性海洛因依赖者的错误相关负电位的病例对照研究

截止2011年底,全国登记吸毒人群中滥用海洛因人员共115.6万人,然而国内对海洛因依赖者神经心理功能的研究较少.目的：探讨康复期男性海洛因依赖者高级认知功能的重要指标之一,即错误相关负电位（error-related negativity,ERN）的特征.方法：符合DSM-IV诊断标准的男性海洛因依赖者20例和健康对照者15人完成视觉Eriksen Flanker刺激任务.该任务共800个刺激,在目标刺激两侧呈现与目标不完全一致的干扰刺激,以此诱发错误应答及ERN.记录被试头皮32导脑电图（EEG）信号.比较患者组与对照组的平均错误率和执行任务的反应时,并比较额叶中线3处EEG电极位置（Fz、FCz和Cz）原始ERN以及ERN差异波（在错误应答波基础上减去正确应答波后的负波）的波幅和潜伏期.结果：两组的错误率无明显差异,但与对照组相比,患者组的正确反应时和错误反应时均缩短.无论是原始ERN还是ERN差异波,患者组的波幅均低于对照组.由于患者组受教育年限较低,经校正后,两组波幅差异无统计学意义.患者组的原始ERN和ERN差异波的潜伏期均比对照组短,校正受教育水平后差异仍有统计学意义.海洛因依赖组ERN差异波波幅与吸毒年限呈正相关.结论：研究结果提示有海洛因依赖史的个体存在冲动控制能力受损以及错误监控功能异常.关于成瘾障碍个体认知功能障碍的神经机制的研究日益增加,本研究也为这一文献库添砖加瓦.     

Factor versus cluster models of schizotypal traits. I: a comparison of unselected and highly schizotypal samples.

Factor analytic studies have long supported the division of schizophrenic symptoms into three relatively orthogonal factors: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and disorders of relatedness/disorganization. Similarly, factor analyses of schizotypy often yield three factors: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and social anxiety or disorganization. Recent cluster analyses, however, suggest that not all patients can be simply categorized according to these factors. Cluster analyses of schizotypal symptoms tend to result in clusters of individuals who are low in all factors, high in more than one factor, or high predominantly in one factor. The present study sought to compare factor and cluster models of schizotypal symptoms, as measured by the SPQ, PAS, and MIS, in unselected individuals and highly schizotypal individuals. Consistent with prior research, factor analysis of a large unselected undergraduate sample yielded three factors: "positive", "negative", and "disorganized." Factor analysis of schizotypal undergraduates produced the same three factors, plus a fourth designated "paranoid thinking." In contrast, cluster analysis of the unselected sample yielded four clusters ("low schizotypy", "average schizotypy", and "high schizotypy", plus "positive/disorganized"). Cluster analysis of the schizotypal subsample produced four clusters: "low schizotypy", "positive", "negative" and "high schizotypy."     

Sense of coherence among Finnish young men--a cross-sectional study at military call-up

The aim of this study was to study associations between sense of coherence (based on Antonovsky's theory), and mental health problems, the use of mental health services, substance use, predisposition to suicide and possible psychiatric diagnosis among Finnish young men. The study included 2314 18-year-old young men who attended military call-up in autumn 1999 and completed the 13-item Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-13) questionnaire (89.1% of the study sample attending military call-up). Furthermore, all young men had a medical examination at military call-up, including evaluation of possible psychiatric disorder. Suicidality, perceived mental health problems, psychiatric diagnosis at military call-up medical examination, use of mental health services, excessive alcohol consumption and use of illicit drugs were identified as independent factors associated with sense of coherence. Sense of coherence is a valuable construction in psychiatric evaluation of adolescents. SOC-13 can be used both in clinical practice and in epidemiological research to evaluate the adolescent's health resources. Future research on its applications in clinical practice is warranted.     

Neural processing of social rejection: the role of schizotypal personality traits

A fear of being rejected can cause perceptions of more insecurity and stress in close relationships. Healthy individuals activate the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) when experiencing social rejection, while those who are vulnerable to depression deactivate the dACC presumably to downregulate salience of rejection cues and minimize distress. Schizotypal individuals, characterized by unusual perceptual experiences and/or odd beliefs, are more rejection sensitive than normal. We tested the hypothesis, for the first time, that individuals with high schizotypy also have an altered dACC response to rejection stimuli. Twenty-six healthy individuals, 14 with low schizotypy (LS) and 12 with high schizotypy (HS), viewed depictions of rejection and acceptance and neutral scenes while undergoing functional MRI. Activation maps in LS and HS groups during each image type were compared using SPM5, and their relation to participant mood and subjective ratings of the images was examined. During rejection relative to neutral scenes, LS activated and HS deactivated the bilateral dACC, right superior frontal gyrus, and left ventral prefrontal cortex. Across both groups, a temporo-occipito-parieto-cerebellar network was active during rejection, and a left fronto-parietal network during acceptance, relative to neutral scenes, and the bilateral lingual gyrus during rejection relative to acceptance scenes. Our finding of dACC-dorso-ventral PFC activation in LS, but deactivation in HS individuals when perceiving social rejection scenes suggests that HS individuals attach less salience to and distance themselves from such stimuli. This may enable them to cope with their higher-than-normal sensitivity to rejection.     

Personality traits of 47,XYY and 47,XXY males found among juvenile delinquents

The mental features of nine 47,XYY males and six 47,XXY males found among Japanese juvenile delinquents were examined. The results of intelligence tests suggested a slight impairment among 47,XYY and 47,XXY males. The psychiatric interviews and the psychological tests revealed that 47,XYY males had a high activity level while 47,XXY males had a low one. Analyses of the offense type and psychophysiological features supported these findings. As the activity level is considered to be largely determined genetically, the extra Y is suspected to be responsible for the high activity level and the extra X in males to be responsible for the low activity level.     

Overlap of autistic and schizotypal traits in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study addresses the unraveling of the relationship between autism spectrum and schizophrenia spectrum traits in a population of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Recent studies comparing isolated symptoms of both spectrum disorders as well as diagnostic criteria for each (DSM-IV-TR) suggest resemblances in the clinical phenotype. A group of 27 adolescents with ASD (11 to 18 years) and 30 typically developing adolescents, matched for age and gender, participated in this study. Within the ASD group 11 adolescents satisfied DSM-IV-TR criteria for schizotypal personality disorders. Autistic and schizotypal traits were identified by means of well validated questionnaires (Autism Questionnaire, AQ and Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Revised, SPQ). Significantly more schizotypal traits in adolescents with ASD were found than in typically developing controls. Besides high levels of negative symptoms, adolescents with ASD also displayed high levels of positive and disorganized symptoms. There appeared to be a relationship between the mean level of autistic symptoms and schizotypal traits, as well as specific associations between autistic symptoms and negative, disorganized and positive schizotypal symptoms within individuals. Schizotypal symptomatology in all sub dimensions that are reflected by the SPQ scores, was most prominently associated with attention switching problems of the autism symptoms from the AQ. These findings indicate that patients diagnosed with an ASD show schizophrenia spectrum traits in adolescence. Although other studies have provided empirical support for this overlap in diagnostic criteria between both spectrum disorders, the present findings add to the literature that behavioral overlap is not limited to negative schizotypal symptoms, but extends to disorganized and positive symptoms as well.     

Impact of coexistent schizotypal personality traits on frontal lobe function in obsessive-compulsive disorder

OBJECTIVE: This study was a post-hoc analysis of the results from a neuropsychological battery which was conducted to investigate the frontal lobe difference between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients with and without schizotypal personality trait (SPT), especially dorsolateral prefrontal and medial frontal functions. METHODS: Fifty-five OCD patients were divided into two groups according to their Personality Disorder Questionnaire-4+ scores. Patients with OCD with SPT (n=17) and OCD without SPT (n=38) were compared to 52 schizophrenia patients and 67 healthy subjects. Two neuropsychological tasks, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and verbal fluency tests which are considered to reflect dorsolateral and medial frontal functions, were selected for an analysis. RESULTS: OCD with SPT patients and patients with schizophrenia performed significantly worse than controls in both the WCST and verbal fluency tasks, whereas OCD without SPT patients showed no deficits in the same tasks. Moreover, we found no statistically significant difference in either task between patients having OCD with SPT and patients with schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: This study indicate that OCD with SPT may have distinct patterns of neurocognitive deficit that differ from those of OCD without SPT, especially in terms of frontal lobe function.     

Effect of age and gender on schizotypal personality traits in the normal population

Aim:  There is some evidence that age and gender influence expression of schizotypal traits in the normal population. One important limitation of previous studies, however, is the restricted age range of subjects. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the effect of gender and age on schizotypal personality features.
Methods:  A total of 1024 participants aged between 16 and 90 were assessed using the schizotypal personality questionnaire. The effect of gender and age on schizotypal features was investigated. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of the scale in different age groups.
Results:  Male subjects scored higher than women in negative and disorganized-like symptoms. Female subjects scored significantly in social anxiety and odd belief subscales. Younger participants significantlyscored higher in reference, odd belief, unusual perceptual experiences, odd behavior and odd speech subscales. While decreases in schizotypy scores were gradual for most of the scales, increased disorganization in female subjects was restricted to late adolescence. Confirmatory factor analysis of the data supported modified versions of the Raine three-factor model across all age groups.
Conclusion:  Psychological changes related to adolescence and better social adaptation as a result of life experience might contribute to the age- and gender-related differences in schizotypy.     

Factor versus cluster models of schizotypal traits. II: relation to neuropsychological impairment.

Heterogeneity in cognitive performance in schizophrenia and schizotypy may be accounted for, by differences in predominant symptom presentation. However, studies have not demonstrated consistent relations between specific cognitive impairments and specific trait dimensions in either population. Studies of group differences, particularly those using groups defined by cluster analyses are rare, but suggest that the negative trait dimension is more associated with executive function deficits, positive trait dimension with memory and attentional difficulties, and the disorganized trait dimension with attention problems. The present study examined the relation of schizotypal trait dimensions and executive function deficits in schizotypal individuals using two methods. Correlations between schizotypal factor scores and cognitive measures demonstrated that high negative symptoms were associated with poor performance on the WCST, while high scores on other trait dimensions were related to a better WCST performance. High scores in all trait dimensions were related to the na?ve rater's observations of unusual social behavior. A cluster analysis revealed three groups of schizotypals (predominantly negative presentation, predominantly positive symptom presentation, and high on all dimensions). The cluster with predominantly negative symptoms performed worse, than all other schizotypal groups and unselected controls, on the WCST and a higher percentage of them were rated as clinically impaired on the neuropsychological battery. However, schizotypals who were high on all trait dimensions were rated as having the most unusual social behavior by the na?ve raters. Overall, results support the hypothesis of a relation between executive function deficits and negative symptoms in schizotypal individuals.