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Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Mar 2019Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is a common, heritable and evolutionarily conserved trait describing inter-individual differences in sensitivity to both negative... (Review)
Review
Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is a common, heritable and evolutionarily conserved trait describing inter-individual differences in sensitivity to both negative and positive environments. Despite societal interest in SPS, scientific knowledge is lagging behind. Here, we critically discuss how SPS relates to other theories, how to measure SPS, whether SPS is a continuous vs categorical trait, its relation to other temperament and personality traits, the underlying aetiology and neurobiological mechanisms, and relations to both typical and atypical development, including mental and sensory disorders. Drawing on the diverse expertise of the authors, we set an agenda for future research to stimulate the field. We conclude that SPS increases risk for stress-related problems in response to negative environments, but also provides greater benefit from positive and supportive experiences. The field requires more reliable and objective assessment of SPS, and deeper understanding of its mechanisms to differentiate it from other traits. Future research needs to target prevention of adverse effects associated with SPS, and exploitation of its positive potential to improve well-being and mental health.
Topics: Animals; Behavior; Cognition; Humans; Individuality; Self Concept; Sensation; Temperament
PubMed: 30639671
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.01.009 -
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric... Jul 2017Neonatal neurobehavioral assessment has become a standardized component of clinical care provided to newborn infants, guiding neonatal clinical care and subsequent... (Review)
Review
Neonatal neurobehavioral assessment has become a standardized component of clinical care provided to newborn infants, guiding neonatal clinical care and subsequent access to early interventions and services. Links between neonatal assessment and neurosensory and motor impairments in high-risk infants have been relatively well established. In contrast, the extent to which newborn neurobehavioral assessment might also facilitate the early identification of infants susceptible to socioemotional impairments in early childhood is less well documented. This review examines longitudinal links between the neonatal neurobehavioral assessment, temperament, and socioemotional outcomes in early childhood.
Topics: Humans; Infant Behavior; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Newborn, Diseases; Mental Disorders; Nervous System Diseases; Temperament
PubMed: 28577601
DOI: 10.1016/j.chc.2017.02.002 -
JAMA Psychiatry Nov 2021Postpartum depression (PPD) affects as many as 20% of mothers, yet just 1 in 10 of these women receives evidence-based treatment. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased PPD... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
IMPORTANCE
Postpartum depression (PPD) affects as many as 20% of mothers, yet just 1 in 10 of these women receives evidence-based treatment. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased PPD risk, reduced treatment access, and shifted preferences toward virtual care.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether an online 1-day cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based workshop added to treatment as usual improves PPD, anxiety, social support, mother-infant relationship quality, and infant temperament more than treatment as usual alone.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
This randomized clinical trial included 403 women with PPD who were recruited across Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 20 to October 4, 2020). Women with Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores of at least 10 who were 18 years or older and had an infant younger than 12 months were eligible.
INTERVENTIONS
Women were randomly assigned to receive a live, interactive online 1-day CBT-based workshop delivered by a registered psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or clinical psychology graduate student in addition to treatment as usual (n = 202) or to receive treatment as usual and wait-listed to receive the workshop 12 weeks later (n = 201).
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
The primary outcome was change in PPD (EPDS scores) in experimental and wait list control groups 12 weeks after baseline. Secondary outcomes included maternal anxiety (7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire [GAD-7]), social support (Social Provisions Scale), quality of the mother-infant relationship (Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire), and infant temperament (Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form).
RESULTS
Participants all identified as women with a mean (SD) age of 31.8 (4.4) years. The workshop led to significant mean (SD) reductions in EPDS scores (from 16.47 [4.41] to 11.65 [4.83]; B = -4.82; P < .001) and was associated with a higher odds of exhibiting a clinically significant decrease in EPDS scores (odds ratio, 4.15; 95% CI, 2.66-6.46). The mean (SD) GAD-7 scores decreased from 12.41 (5.12) to 7.97 (5.54) after the workshop (B = -4.44; 95% CI, -5.47 to -3.38; P < .001) and participants were more likely to experience a clinically significant change (odds ratio, 3.09; 95% CI, 1.99-4.81). Mothers also reported improvements in bonding (B = -3.22; 95% CI, -4.72 to -1.71; P < .001), infant-focused anxiety (B = -1.64; 95% CI, -2.25 to 1.00; P < .001), social support (B = 3.31; 95% CI, 1.04 to 5.57; P < .001), and positive affectivity/surgency in infants (B = 0.31; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.56; P < .001).
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
In this randomized clinical trial, an online 1-day CBT-based workshop for PPD provides an effective, brief option for mothers, reducing PPD and anxiety as well as improving social support, the mother-infant relationship, and positive affectivity/surgency in offspring.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04485000.
Topics: Adult; Anxiety Disorders; COVID-19; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Depression, Postpartum; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant Behavior; Internet-Based Intervention; Mother-Child Relations; Object Attachment; Ontario; Outcome Assessment, Health Care; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychotherapy, Brief; Social Support; Temperament
PubMed: 34495285
DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2488 -
Child Development Jul 2022We utilized a community detection approach to longitudinally (a) identify distinct groups of children with common temperament profiles in infancy and at 2 and 3 years...
We utilized a community detection approach to longitudinally (a) identify distinct groups of children with common temperament profiles in infancy and at 2 and 3 years of age and (b) determine whether co-occurrence of certain temperament traits may be early predictors of internalizing problems at 5 years of age. Seven hundred and seventy-four infants (360 girls; 88.6% White, 9.8% Hispanic, and 1.6% other races) were recruited from the Boston area. Data collection spanned from 2012 to 2021. The analysis yielded three distinct groups of children with different temperament traits and was associated with significant variation in levels of internalizing symptoms and anxiety diagnosis rate. Our findings suggest that stable temperament "communities" can be detected in early childhood and may predict risk for psychopathology later in life.
Topics: Anxiety; Boston; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Infant; Temperament
PubMed: 35226361
DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13742 -
Journal of Psychiatric Research Mar 2022Maternal distress experienced prenatally and in the child's first year of life has been associated consistently with offspring psychopathology. Less research has...
Maternal distress experienced prenatally and in the child's first year of life has been associated consistently with offspring psychopathology. Less research has addressed whether it is also associated with variations in psychological traits. The present research used two samples from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children to examine the association between maternal prenatal and postnatal distress and offspring temperament across childhood. Maternal distress experienced by mothers was associated with higher offspring reactivity and lower offspring persistence. These associations replicated across both types of maternal distress (prenatal/postnatal), across two different measures of temperament, and remained significant controlling for maternal distress concurrent with the temperament measures and controlling for maternal personality. There was less evidence that either type of maternal distress was associated with sociability and no evidence that it was associated with the trajectory of the three dimensions of temperament across childhood. Maternal distress is associated with traits that reflect dysregulation and may be one mechanism through which prenatal and early life factors contribute to individual differences in psychological function.
Topics: Australia; Child; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Mothers; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Temperament
PubMed: 35074742
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.01.034 -
Developmental Psychobiology Nov 2022Temperament in early childhood is a good predictor of later personality, behavior, and risk of psychopathology. Variation in temperament can be explained by... (Review)
Review
Temperament in early childhood is a good predictor of later personality, behavior, and risk of psychopathology. Variation in temperament can be explained by environmental and biological factors. One biological mechanism of interest is the gut microbiome (GM), which has been associated with mental and physical health. This review synthesized existing literature evaluating the relationship between GM composition and diversity, and temperament in early life. Web of Science, PsycInfo, PubMed, and Scopus were searched, and data were extracted according to PRISMA guidelines. In total, 1562 studies were identified, of which six remained following application of exclusion/inclusion criteria. The findings suggest that there is an association between higher alpha diversity and temperament: greater Surgency/Extraversion and High-Intensity Pleasure in males, and lower Effortful Control in females. Unique community structures (beta diversity) were found for Surgency/Extraversion in males and Fear in females. An emerging pattern of positive temperament traits being associated with GM communities biased toward short-chain fatty acid production from a metabolism based on dietary fiber and complex carbohydrates was observed and is worthy of further investigation. To gain deeper understanding of the relationship, future research should investigate further the functional aspects of the microbiome and the influence of diet.
Topics: Male; Female; Humans; Child, Preschool; Temperament; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Dietary Fiber; Biological Factors; Carbohydrates
PubMed: 36282751
DOI: 10.1002/dev.22306 -
Infant Behavior & Development Nov 2021Temperament is a dynamic trait that can be shaped by maturity and environmental experiences. In this study, we sought to determine whether and the extent to which...
Temperament is a dynamic trait that can be shaped by maturity and environmental experiences. In this study, we sought to determine whether and the extent to which temperament was predicted by sleeping behaviors in an understudied sample of primarily Black and White infants and toddlers living in low-income homes (N = 150). Sleeping behaviors were assessed at 15-19 months of age with caregiver report of the Tayside Children's Sleep Questionnaire. Temperament was examined as effortful control, negativity, and surgency with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form at 9-12 months of age and with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire Short Form at 20-24 months of age. Covariates were maternal education, household income, and child sex and race. Continuous variables were standardized, then missing data from independent variables were multiply imputed in 20 datasets. Regression analyses showed that about 1 SD improvement in toddler sleep behaviors significantly predicted about 1/5 SD better toddler effortful control. However, sleep behaviors did not significantly predict toddler surgency or negative affect. This study shows that for a sample of infants and toddlers in low-income homes, how a child learns to regulate sleeping behaviors may influence the development of overall effortful control about six months later.
Topics: Child; Child Behavior; Child, Preschool; Humans; Infant; Infant Behavior; Poverty; Sleep; Temperament
PubMed: 34715609
DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101657 -
Scandinavian Journal of Pain Jul 2022Psychobiological temperament and cognitive-evaluative character link to coping with chronic pain. The aim was to study possible independent role of temperament and...
OBJECTIVES
Psychobiological temperament and cognitive-evaluative character link to coping with chronic pain. The aim was to study possible independent role of temperament and character dimensions both in chronic and experimental pain in chronic post-surgical pain patients. This is a substudy of a previously published larger cohort of patients with intercostobrachial nerve injury after breast cancer surgery.
METHODS
We recruited 241 women who had been treated for breast cancer 4-9 years before. They had a surgeon-verified intercostobrachial nerve injury with or without chronic post-surgical neuropathic pain (CPSNP). The patients filled in the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), and underwent the cold pressor test (CPT).
RESULTS
201 (83%) patients reported chronic pain and 135 (56%) met the criteria for CPSNP. Patients with CPSNP showed higher levels of Harm Avoidance (HA) temperament than non-CPSNP patients, which was associated with lower cold pain tolerance and greater increase of pain intensity during CPT. HA subscales Fear of Uncertainty and Fatigability contributed to a stronger pain experience. For character dimensions, CPSNP patients reported higher levels of Self-Transcendence (ST) and lower levels of Self-Directedness (SD) and Cooperativeness (CO) than non-CPSNP patients. Cold pain tolerance, intensity, or unpleasantness did not associate with character dimensions.
CONCLUSIONS
Psychobiological temperament, but not character, is independently from other psychological factors associated with primary pain processing in an experimental pain setting. Patients with and without CPSNP showed different profiles on both temperament and character dimensions suggesting a combination of heightened emotional vulnerability and lowered personality adaptability in CPSNP patients. Character dimensions associated with clinical but not experimental pain.
ETHICAL COMMITTEE NUMBER
The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (reference number: 149/13/03/00/14).
TRIAL REGISTRY NUMBER
The study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02487524).
Topics: Chronic Pain; Female; Humans; Neuralgia; Pain, Postoperative; Personality Inventory; Temperament
PubMed: 35139264
DOI: 10.1515/sjpain-2021-0163 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Apr 2018Temperament of healthy people and mental illnesses, particularly affective disorders, have been conjectured to lie along a continuum of neurobehavioural regulation.... (Review)
Review
Temperament of healthy people and mental illnesses, particularly affective disorders, have been conjectured to lie along a continuum of neurobehavioural regulation. Understanding the nature of this continuum may better inform the construction of taxonomies for both categories of behaviour. Both temperament and mental illness refer to patterns of behaviour that manifest over long time scales (weeks to years) and they appear to share many underlying neuroregulatory systems. This continuum is discussed from the perspectives of nonlinear dynamical systems theory, neurobiology and psychiatry as applied to understanding such multiscale time-series behaviour. Particular emphasis is given to issues of generativity, fungibility, metastability, non-stationarity and contextuality. Implications of these dynamical properties for the development of taxonomies will be discussed. Problems with the over-reliance of psychologists on statistical and mathematical methods in deriving their taxonomies (particularly those based on factor analysis) will be discussed from a dynamical perspective. An alternative approach to temperament based upon functionality, and its discriminative capabilities in mental illness, is presented.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.
Topics: Affective Disorders, Psychotic; Humans; Individuality; Models, Psychological; Models, Statistical; Neurobiology; Nonlinear Dynamics; Psychiatry; Systems Theory; Temperament; Terminology as Topic; Time Factors
PubMed: 29483352
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0168 -
Clinical Child and Family Psychology... Jun 2020Fearful temperament represents one of the most robust predictors of child and adolescent anxiety; however, not all children with fearful temperament unvaryingly develop... (Review)
Review
Fearful temperament represents one of the most robust predictors of child and adolescent anxiety; however, not all children with fearful temperament unvaryingly develop anxiety. Diverse processes resulting from the interplay between automatic processing (i.e., attention bias) and controlled processing (i.e., effortful control) drive the trajectories toward more adaptive or maladaptive directions. In this review, we examine the associations between fearful temperament, attention bias, and anxiety, as well as the moderating effect of effortful control. Based on the reviewed literature, we propose a two-mechanism developmental model of attention bias that underlies the association between fearful temperament and anxiety. We propose that the sub-components of effortful control (i.e., attentional control and inhibitory control) play different roles depending on individuals' temperaments, initial automatic biases, and goal priorities. Our model may help resolve some of the mixed findings and conflicts in the current literature. It may also advance our knowledge regarding the cognitive mechanisms linking fearful temperament and anxiety, as well as facilitate the continuing efforts in identifying and intervening with children who are at risk. Finally, we conclude the review with a discussion on the existing limitations and then propose questions for future research.
Topics: Adolescent; Anxiety; Attentional Bias; Child; Executive Function; Fear; Humans; Temperament
PubMed: 31728796
DOI: 10.1007/s10567-019-00306-z