Sub-optimal parenting is associated with schizotypic and anxiety personality traits in adulthood

Parental care and overprotection predict worry and anxiety symptoms in emerging adult students

Anxiety disorders represent a prevalent mental health concern, with escalating rates, especially among emerging adults. University students, in particular, face a myriad of academic and life stressors that can amplify feelings of worry and anxiety. While early parental bonding seem to predict anxiety disorders later in life, the applicability to emerging adult students and its applicability to predict sub-clinical and transdiagnostic anxiety features remain unclear. This study aims to examine i) the relationship between demographic variables and key features of anxiety disorders (i.e., worry and anxiety symptoms); and ii) the predictive association between early parental bonding and anxiety-related features. A sample of 370 university students in Italy (n = 279 females; M age = 20.84 years, SD age = 1.81 years) completed the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Females reported higher levels of worry and anxiety compared to males. Significantly higher worry and anxiety symptoms were reported by individuals who experienced affectionless control (low care and high overprotection) as compared to those exposed to optimal parenting (high care and low overprotection). Predictive models indicated that scores of parental care (i.e., the principal component between maternal and paternal care scores) and parental overprotection (i.e., the principal component between maternal and paternal overprotection scores) are robust predictors of worry and anxiety symptoms. However, this relationship showed a gender-specific pattern: lower parental care was more significant in predicting anxiety features in males, while high overprotection was more significant in females. The findings contribute to the comprehension of the risk factors influencing the susceptibility of emerging adult students to anxiety disorders.

Early life factors of schizotypal personality disorder in adolescents: A systematic review

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: The complexity and high prevalence of schizotypal personality disorders (SPD) pose serious challenges for mental health practice in its management, and also bring severe consequences for the patients. The identification of the specific early life factors (ELFs) that confer risk to SPD has become a major focus of clinical research on schizophrenia-spectrum disorders which aligns well with the mental health nursing's responsibility in health promotion, prevention and treatment. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: Adolescents may experience certain ELFs, which contribute to the occurrence of SPD, but no systematic review has been conducted to identify ELF among them. And nursing literature addressing modifiable ELF is very limited. Two clusters of ELF and SPD in adolescents were identified: prenatal and early postnatal factors; childhood trauma and parental factors. The findings also show that more research is needed to determine the specificity and cumulative effects of ELF on the development of SPD by using rigorous and comprehensive measurements and a longitudinal design. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Mental health nurses, especially nurses in the primary care, should be aware of potentially modifiable ELFs and incorporate more comprehensive and valid instrument for assessing cumulative ELF and SPD. These findings may serve to inform possible future interventions for SPD, such as parent education and support to mitigate these risk factors.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) affects 4% of the general population in the United States. The identification of early life factors (ELFs) that confer risk to SPD in adolescents (ages 10-24 years old) has become a major focus of clinical research on schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

AIM

This systematic review aims to determine what ELFs contribute to the onset of SPD in the adolescent population.

METHODS

A systematic search of PubMed, PsycINFO, Psychiatry online, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE and CINAHL databases was conducted using relevant keywords. Data were extracted using a standardized form following PRISMA guidelines.

RESULTS

Twenty-four studies met the criteria for inclusion. ELFs in the development of SPD were grouped into two important clusters: (a) prenatal and early postnatal factors; (b) childhood trauma and parental factors.

CONCLUSION

Mental health nurses, especially nurses in primary care, should be aware of potentially modifiable ELF. Longitudinal research is needed to determine the causative roles of these ELF play in the occurrence of SPD by using rigorous measurements.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

These findings call for awareness of the modifiable ELF for SPD and also inform possible future interventions to reduce these risks, such as parent-training or environmental enrichment programmes.

Self-perceived cognitive lapses and psychological well-being in schizotypy: Generalized and domain-specific associations

A critical link between schizotypy and schizophrenia is impoverished cognitive functioning. In the majority of studies, though: (1) cognition is examined with standard neuropsychological tasks; and (2) high-schizotypal individuals are defined according to criteria applied in the respective study sample. Taking these considerations into account, the aims of the present study were to examine: (1) differences between four pre-defined, according to normative criteria, schizotypal (paranoid, negative, disorganized and cognitive-perceptual) and one control groups in self-perceived cognitive lapses; and (2) associations between schizotypal dimensions, self-perceived cognitive lapses and psychological well-being. Two hundred and sixty-one participants were administered the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and the Flourishing Scale, which assesses psychological well-being. Negative schizotypals reported higher scores in almost all CFQ measures compared with the control group (all p values < 0.01) along with poorer psychological well-being compared with the control and the cognitive-perceptual groups (both p values < 0.001). The disorganized group had higher scores in distractibility, blunders and total CFQ scores compared with the control group (all p values < 0.001). High psychological well-being was significantly associated with low negative schizotypy and CFQ blunders along with high cognitive-perceptual schizotypy (all p values < 0.05). To summarize, negative schizotypy is associated with a profile of "generalized" self-perceived cognitive lapses while disorganized schizotypy is characterized by self-perceived cognitive slips that have previously been shown to be mediated by a fronto-parietal network. Although psychological well-being is negatively associated with social-context specific cognitive failures and negative schizotypy, it is positively associated with cognitive-perceptual schizotypy.

Affectionless control: A parenting style associated with obesity and binge eating disorder in adulthood

OBJECTIVE

Obesity is rising globally with a heavy health and economic burden. Early attachment experiences are relevant to the development of obesity. The purpose of this study was to investigate if parental care and attachment style experienced in childhood is associated with obesity, with or without binge eating disorder (BED), in adulthood.

METHOD

Parental style, personality traits, and psychopathology were assessed in 810 clinically referred adults with obesity, of whom 357 with BED and 453 without BED (non-BED), and 463 healthy subjects (HS). Assessments included the Parental Bonding Instrument, Temperament and Character Inventory, Eating Disorder Inventory-2, Symptom Checklist-90 and Beck Depression Inventory-II.

RESULTS

Both BED and non-BED reported lower maternal and paternal care and higher overprotection than HS. BED reported worse levels of parental care than non-BED and HS. 'Affectionless control' parenting style was more frequently reported by both BED and non-BED than HS. No significant differences in parenting style emerged between BED and non-BED.

CONCLUSIONS

Perception of parental 'affectionless control' was associated with obesity in adults, and lower quality of parental care was more frequently reported by participants with BED. Parental style may constitute an important target for early interventions to prevent obesity.

The path from schizotypy to depression and aggression and the role of family stress

Background.

Schizotypy is a multidimensional construct that is linked to the vulnerability for psychosis. Positive schizotypy includes having paranormal beliefs. Negative schizotypy includes social anhedonia. Disorganized schizotypy includes social anxiety and communication disorder. Schizotypy relates to depression and aggression. Family stress from high expressed emotion (EE; a rating of criticism, hostility, and emotional overinvolvement in a close relative toward a person showing signs of mental disorder) may mediate the link between schizotypy, depression and aggression. This study tested, using path analyses, the hypotheses that schizotypy predicts depression and aggression through high perceived EE as criticism and irritability (hypothesis 1) and praise and intrusiveness in a close relative (hypothesis 2).

Methods.

One hundred and four healthy participants listened to and rated the self-relevance of standard criticism and standard praise that denote EE. Participants rated their level of schizotypy, depression, aggression, and perceived EE in self-report questionnaires. Two path models tested the hypotheses.

Results.

Disorganized schizotypy, more than positive schizotypy, predicted the path to depression and aggression when perceived criticism and perceived EE-irritability were mediators. Disorganised schizotypy, more than negative schizotypy, predicted the path to depression and aggression when perceived praise and perceived EE-intrusiveness were mediators.

Conclusions.

Greater perceived criticism and less perceived praise in family communication explain the path from disorganized schizotypy (more so than positive or negative schizotypy) to depression and aggression. These findings indicate a need to consider the thought disorder-EE link as a potential contributor to depression and aggression in people with schizophrenia.

The association of schizotypal traits with Prepulse Inhibition: a double approach exploration

Introduction: According to the fully-dimensional approach, schizotypy is a personality trait present in the population in a continuous manner while the quasi-dimensional approach emphasises its extreme presentations. In this study we examined the relationship between sensorimotor gating, a core risk-index of the schizophrenia-spectrum, and four schizotypal factors in a dimensional-wise and a dichotomising-wise approach. Methods: Two-hundred and eighty-three participants were assessed with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and were tested for Prepulse Inhibition (PPI). Associations between the schizotypal factors and startle measures were examined with stepwise regressions (dimensional-wise approach). Individuals in the lower 20% or the upper 20% for each schizotypal factor were identified and between-group comparisons were conducted (dichotomising-wise approach). Results: We found that with both approaches, only high paranoid or negative schizotypy were associated with reduced PPI. The low negative schizotypy group had prolonged onset and peak latencies, indicating that prolonged stimulus detection accompanies superior sensorimotor gating in this group. Conclusions: The findings suggest that although differentiating the effects of the various schizotypal factors is primary, the approach employed is secondary. The study also adds evidence in the literature supporting PPI as a useful endophenotypic marker of the schizophrenia-spectrum and highlights the contribution of specific aspects of schizotypy.

Revisiting the roots of attachment: A review of the biological and psychological effects of maternal skin-to-skin contact and carrying of full-term infants

During the early period of hypothesis building and empirical testing of attachment theory, a major emphasis was placed on mother-infant physical contact. In spite of this, mother-infant contact has received scant attention amongst attachment and child development researchers in the past decades. Here, a brief theoretical framework for mother-infant contact is presented, drawing on animal studies as well as human studies of preterm infants and neonates. Salient mechanisms may include an extended sensitive period during early infancy, requiring specific somatosensory stimuli for bio-behavioral homeorhesis; oxytocinergic and epigenetic pathways; kinesthetic stimuli and face-to-face proximity allowing for increased social interaction. Studies of extended human mother-full-term infant physical contact have demonstrated positive effects in multiple domains. For infants, these include sleep organization, temperature and heart rate regulation, behavioral response, crying/colic, socio-emotional development, attachment quality, speech development opportunities and mother-child interactions. For mothers, studies demonstrate improved depressive symptomatology, physiological stress regulation, contingent responsivity, breastfeeding and mother-child interactions. Parent-infant attachment quality has gained prominence as a trauma-resilience factor as well as a predictor of adult physical health. The potential role of mother-infant contact as an attachment promoting intervention as well as future research subjects are discussed. Current evidence supports the original attachment research that early maternal touch provision may influence infant socio-emotional development and attachment quality, with positive implications for mother-child relationship functioning.

Owner personality and the wellbeing of their cats share parallels with the parent-child relationship

Human personality may substantially affect the nature of care provided to dependants. This link has been well researched in parents and children, however, relatively little is known about this dynamic with regards to humans’ relationships with non-human animals. Owner interactions with companion animals may provide valuable insight into the wider phenomenon of familial interactions, as owners usually adopt the role of primary caregiver and potentially surrogate parent. This study, using cats as an exemplar, explored the relationship between owner personality and the lifestyles to which cats are exposed. In addition, it explored owner personality as it related to reported cat behaviour and wellbeing. Cat owners (n = 3331) responded to an online survey examining their personality and the health, behaviour and management of their cats. Owner personality was measured using the Big Five Inventory (BFI) to assess: Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Neuroticism and Openness. Owners also provided information concerning the physical health, breed type, management and behavioural styles of their cats. Generalised linear mixed models were used to identify relationships between owner personality and a range of factors that may have welfare implications for the wider companion animal population, and specifically, cats. Higher owner Neuroticism was associated with an increased likelihood of non-pedigree rather than pedigree cat ownership, a decreased likelihood of ad libitum access to the outdoors, cats being reported as having a ‘behavioural problem’, displaying more aggressive and anxious/fearful behavioural styles and more stress-related sickness behaviours, as well as having an ongoing medical condition and being overweight. Other owner personality traits were generally found to correlate more positively with various lifestyle, behaviour and welfare parameters. For example, higher owner Extroversion was associated with an increased likelihood that the cat would be provided ad libitum access to the outdoors; higher owner Agreeableness was associated with a higher level of owner reported satisfaction with their cat, and with a greater likelihood of owners reporting their cats as being of a normal weight. Finally higher owner Conscientiousness was associated with the cat displaying less anxious/fearful, aggressive, aloof/avoidant, but more gregarious behavioural styles. These findings demonstrate that the relationship between carer personality and the care received by a dependent, may extend beyond the human family to animal-owner relationships, with significant implications for the choice of management, behaviour and potentially the broader wellbeing of companion animals.

Schizotypy-Independent and Schizotypy-Modulated Cognitive Impairments in Unaffected First-Degree Relatives of Schizophrenia-spectrum Patients

Objective

The aim of the study was to compare the neurocognitive profile of unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients with control individuals, controlling for different schizotypal traits.

Method

One hundred and fifteen adult unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenia-spectrum patients and 122 controls were tested for schizotypy with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. They also underwent a thorough neurocognitive assessment with a range of tasks covering several aspects of executive functioning. Between-group differences in cognition were examined first with multivariate analysis of variance and then with a series of multivariate analyses of covariance, including the schizotypal dimensions as covariates.

Results

The relatives had higher scores on all schizotypal dimensions compared with controls and poorer planning, problem solving, strategy formation and working memory, irrespective of schizotypal traits. They also scored lower in executive working memory and verbal fluency. The difference in executive working memory was sensitive to the effects of paranoid and negative schizotypy (both dimensions abolished the between-group difference) whereas the difference in verbal fluency was sensitive only to the effects of paranoid schizotypy. Neither cognitive-perceptual nor disorganized schizotypy accounted for any differences in neurocognition between relatives and the controls.

Conclusions

Impairments in planning, problem solving, strategy formation and working memory are "core" impairments in the schizophrenia-spectrum, possibly due to high heritability effects in these functions. Impairments in executive working memory and verbal fluency are associated with paranoid and negative schizotypy, possibly due to alterations in a common fronto-temporo-parietal neural network.

Childhood parental bonding affects adulthood trait anxiety through self-esteem

INTRODUCTION

The association between trait anxiety and parental bonding has been suggested. However, the mechanism remains uncertain and there is no study focused on general adult population. We investigated the association and the mechanism between childhood parental bonding and adulthood trait anxiety in the general adult population.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A cross-sectional retrospective survey was conducted in 2014 with 853 adult volunteers from the general population. The Parental Bonding Instrument, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y (STAI-Y) were self-administered. Structural equation modelling was used for the analysis.

RESULTS

Childhood parental bonding affected adulthood trait anxiety indirectly mediated by self-esteem. Trait anxiety was decreased by parental care and increased by parental overprotection through self-esteem. This model explained 51.1% of the variability in STAI-Y trait anxiety scores.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests an important role of self-esteem as a mediator between childhood parental bonding and adulthood trait anxiety.

Schizotypal and affective traits in the offspring of antenatally depressed mothers - Relationship to family history of psychosis in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort

BACKGROUND

Maternal depression is relatively common during pregnancy. However, follow-ups of the adult offspring of antenatally depressed mothers are scarce. Previously we found the risk of schizophrenia to be higher in the adult offspring with antenatally depressed mothers and parents with psychosis than in subjects with only one or neither of these risk factors. The aim was to study whether the risk of schizotypal or affective traits differ among adult offspring with antenatally depressed mothers with or without a parental history of psychosis when compared with offspring without antenatally depressed mothers and without parental psychosis.

METHODS

In the general population-based Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort (NFBC 1966), the mothers of the cohort members were asked at mid-gestation whether they felt depressed. Parental psychosis (Familial Risk, FR) was detected using the Finnish Care Register for Health Care. In the 31-year field study, seven psychometric questionnaires surveyed schizotypal and affective traits in the offspring. The final sample included 4928 individuals (2203 males).

RESULTS

There were no statistically significant differences in mean scores on the schizotypal and affective scales between offspring with and without antenatally depressed mothers, or between subjects with and without parental psychosis. The scores were not highest in the subjects with both maternal antenatal depressed mood and FR.

CONCLUSION

Surprisingly, maternal depressed mood during pregnancy was unlikely to increase the risk of schizotypy or affective traits in adult offspring, and not even with parental psychosis (FR) in this general population-based birth cohort with about 5000 subjects.

Associations of differential schizotypal dimensions with executive working memory: A moderated-mediation analysis

BACKGROUND

Increased schizotypal traits are observed in a percentage of the general population and in the schizophrenia-spectrum and have been associated with impairments in working memory. In this study we examined the effects of four schizotypal dimensions [Negative (NegS), Paranoid (ParS), Cognitive-Perceptual (CPS), Disorganized (DiS)] on executive working memory (EWM), as mediated by set-shifting, planning and control inhibition. We also examined whether these associations are moderated by family-history of psychosis.

METHODS

Our sample consisted of 110 unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenia-spectrum patients and 120 control individuals. Schizotypy was assessed with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. Participants were also tested with the Letter-Number Sequencing, Wisconsin Card Sorting, Stroop Color-Word and Stockings of Cambridge tasks. The effects of set-shifting, control inhibition and planning on the relationship between schizotypy and EWM were examined with mediation analyses. Moderated-mediation analyses examined potential moderating effects of group membership (unaffected relative/community participant).

RESULTS

All mediators were significant in the relationship between NegS and EWM. The effects of ParS were mediated only by set-shifting and planning. Planning and control inhibition were the only significant mediators on the effects of CPS and DiS on EWM, respectively. The moderated-mediation analyses revealed that these findings apply only in the community group.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that the effects of different schizotypal dimensions on EWM are mediated by other cognitive processes in individuals without personal/family history of psychosis. This is probably due to either more severe impairments in the cognitive processes of the relatives or restrictions in our sample and study-design.

Disintegration as an Additional Trait in the Psychobiological Model of Personality

Abstract. This meta-analytic study investigates the relations between Disintegration-like phenomena (i.e., various aspects of symptomatology with the prefix “schizo-,” both at the clinical and the subclinical level) and the traits of the Psychobiological Model of Personality (PBMP). The empirically based benchmark for assuming the distinctness of the trait Disintegration was .30. The sample included 26 manuscripts with 30 studies and 424 effect sizes. By computing inverse sampling variance weighted mean correlation coefficients under a random-effects assumption, the following associations were found between Disintegration and Harm Avoidance, Novelty Seeking, Reward Dependence, Persistence, Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence: .23, .04, −.15, −.02, −.23, −.16, and .17, respectively. Two variables were found to moderate the Disintegration-Self-Transcendence correlation. Despite the theoretical expectation and some empirical evidence that Self-Transcendence (and other character traits) should capture variations in Disintegration-like phenomena, our results suggest that schizo-type phenomena are not adequately covered by the PBMP.

Transgenerational aspects of former Swiss child laborers: do second generations suffer from their parents' adverse early-life experiences?

BACKGROUND

Recent research suggests that childhood adversity exerts a lasting impact not only on the affected individuals but also on their offspring. Little is known about the role of parental rearing behavior in the transgenerational conveyance of parental childhood adversity and filial psychological health.

OBJECTIVE

Hence, it was the aim of the current study to investigate the relationship between parental rearing behavior of former Swiss indentured child laborers ("Verdingkinder") and psychological health of their adult offspring.

METHODS

We applied a two-generation control-group design with two parental samples (n=16, former "Verdingkinder," M_age=76.13, SD=6.81 and n=19, parental controls, M_age=72.63, SD=5.96) and their offspring (n=21, former "Verdingkinder" offspring, M_age=52.91, SD=5.90, and n=29 offspring controls, M_age=44.55, SD=7.71). Parental rearing behavior, childhood trauma, and psychological health were assessed with questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Bayesian analyses, where Bayes factors (BF) of 3 or higher were considered as substantial evidence for the tested hypotheses.

RESULTS

We found that "Verdingkinder" offspring reported more physical abuse (BF₁₀=5.197) and higher total childhood trauma exposure (BF₁₀=2.476). They described both their fathers (BF₁₀=14.246) and mothers (BF₁₀=24.153) as less emotional and their mothers as more punitive (BF₁₀=18.725). An increased sense of reflection, for instance, one's ability to take different perspectives, was found in the offspring controls (BF₁₀=5.245). Furthermore, exploratory analyses revealed that lower perceived familial emotionality was associated with higher psychopathology (all BF₁₀=10.471) and higher pessimism (all BF₁₀=5.396).

DISCUSSION

Our data provide cross-sectional evidence of a meaningful transgenerational relationship between parental childhood adversity, dysfunctional rearing behavior, and psychological health of offspring. Prospective studies are needed to investigate these findings in a longitudinal setting.

The BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism modulates parental rearing effects on adult psychiatric symptoms: a community twin-based study

PURPOSE

To test whether firstly, different parental rearing components were associated with different dimensions of psychiatric symptoms in adulthood, secondly BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism moderated this association and thirdly, this association was due to genetic confounding.

METHOD

Perceived parental rearing according to Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), psychiatric symptoms evaluated with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism were analyzed in a sample of 232 adult twins from the general population.

RESULTS

In the whole sample, paternal care was negatively associated with depression. Maternal overprotection was positively associated with paranoid ideation, obsession-compulsion and somatization. Gene-environment interaction effects were detected between the BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism and maternal care on phobic anxiety, paternal care on hostility, maternal overprotection on somatization and paternal overprotection also in somatization. In the subsample of MZ twins, intrapair differences in maternal care were associated with anxiety, paranoid ideation and somatization.

CONCLUSIONS

Met carriers were, in general, more sensitive to the effects of parental rearing compared to Val/Val carriers in relation to anxiety and somatization. Contra-intuitively, our findings suggest that high rates of maternal care might be of risk for Met carriers regarding anxiety. Results from analyses controlling for genetic confounding were in line with this finding.

The CSMD1 genome-wide associated schizophrenia risk variant rs10503253 affects general cognitive ability and executive function in healthy males

BACKGROUND

The single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs10503253, located within the CUB and Sushi multiple domains-1 (CSMD1) gene on 8p23.2, has reached genome-wide support as a risk factor for schizophrenia. There is initial but inconclusive evidence for a role of this variant in aspects of cognition.

METHODS

We investigated the neurocognitive effects of the CSMD1 rs10503253 (C/A) polymorphism in a large, demographically homogeneous sample of young, healthy Greek Caucasian males (n=1149) phenotyped for a wide range of neuropsychological measures, most of which have been shown to be reliable endophenotypes for schizophrenia.

RESULTS

The risk 'A' allele was associated with poorer performance on measures of general cognitive ability, strategy formation, spatial and visual working memory, set shifting, target detection and planning for problem solving but not for emotional decision making. Most of these effects were dependent on risk "A" allele dose, with AA and CC homozygotes being the worse and the best respectively, while CA individuals were intermediate. Potential genotype effects in Stroop and verbal memory performance were also suggested by our dataset.

DISCUSSION

These results underline the relevance of the risk "A" allele to neurocognitive functioning and suggest that its detrimental effects on cognition, may be part of the mechanism by which the CSMD1 mediates risk for schizophrenia.