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Emotion dysregulation (ED) is a transdiagnostic risk factor for several forms of psychopathology. One established, integrative conceptualization of ED that has informed our understanding of psychopathology (Gratz & Roemer, 2004) was recently extended to account for state-level and specifically physiological aspects of ED. As such, the goal of the current study was to assess the degree to which this conceptualization could be captured using a physiological, state-level index (i.e., the late positive potential; LPP). Participants (N=41; M(age)=27.5 years, SD=11.0) completed a trait-based rating scale measure of the extended conceptualization of ED and viewed a series of images that ranged in valence (i.e., unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral). Multilevel modeling indicated some points of convergence between rating scale scores and the LPP, and other points of divergence. Findings underscore the utility of a multi-method approach to improve understanding of key transdiagnostic characteristics across levels of analysis. Further, results are novel evidence supporting validity of the extended conceptualization of ED.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in dramatic changes to sleep patterns and higher prevalence of insomnia, which threaten overall mental and physical health. We examined whether safety behaviors in response to COVID-19, worry in response to COVID-19, and depression predicted insomnia, with age, race, and sex as covariates. A community sample from the United States (n = 321, Mage = 40.02, SD = 10.54; 53.6% female) recruited using online crowdsourcing completed self-report measures in May of 2020 and again three months later. At baseline, our model accounted for 68.1% of the variance in insomnia, with depression as the only significant predictor (β = .70, p < .001). In the longitudinal analyses, only baseline insomnia symptoms predicted 3-month follow-up insomnia symptoms (β = .70, p < .001; 67.1% of variance). Of note, COVID-19 worry and some COVID-19 safety behaviors were related to 3-month follow-up safety behaviors, but not insomnia. Our findings demonstrated that depression is an important factor to consider for concurrent insomnia symptoms. Our results have implications regarding the development of interventions for insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest that clinicians should consider depression when assessing for and treating insomnia symptoms.

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) compared the efficacy of Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT) to Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD) in veterans diagnosed with affective disorders. TBT is a transdiagnostic psychotherapy designed to address depressive, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Preliminary findings have been promising; however, no RCT has been completed to date. 105 treatment-seeking veterans were recruited and completed diagnostic and self-report measures, and then randomized into TBT or BATD treatment conditions for 12 weekly psychotherapy sessions. Assessment measures were re-administered at immediate post-treatment and 6-month follow-up. Of the 93 participants initiating treatment, 50 participants completed the full treatment protocol (TBT n = 29; BATD n = 21). No differences were observed in treatment completion across groups. Participants demonstrated significant treatment improvements across all assessments, including measures of depression, anxiety (general, cognitive, and somatic), stress, PTSD symptoms, and transdiagnostic impairment. Group differences with small effect sizes were observed in most of the studied measures, favoring TBT compared to BATD. Together, the findings support the growing literature on the efficacy of transdiagnostic psychotherapies, compared to disorder-specific treatments (DSTs). Related to the outcome findings, the benefits for transdiagnostic protocols in terms of symptom coverage, dissemination, and access were discussed.

There is strong evidence that inattention is a correlate of reading-related skills; however, less research has examined the unique and longitudinal relations between multiple informants' ratings of inattention and the development of early reading skills across the preschool year. This study used latent growth curve analysis to examine whether ratings of inattention, completed by multiple informants, were unique predictors of emergent literacy development in preschoolers. Participants included 284 preschool children. ADHD-rating scales were completed by three different informants (i.e., classroom teachers, project teachers, and examiners) and measures of emergent literacy skills, a measure of working memory, and a measure of non-verbal cognitive ability were completed by the preschoolers. Each informant's rating of inattention uniquely predicted children's initial emergent literacy skills, but only the ratings of inattention made by project teachers were uniquely associated with growth in emergent literacy skills over the course of the preschool year.

Hoarding disorder is characterized by persistent difficulty discarding possessions resulting in clutter that precludes one from using living areas for their intended purposes. The limited empirical work available has suggested a strong link between hoarding and various non-psychiatric conditions, including obesity. Despite these associations, no research has examined the link between hoarding and other forms of eating pathology including symptoms associated with binge eating. Moreover, little is known about mechanisms that may account for this relationship. The current study examined the associations between hoarding severity, obesity, and symptoms associated with binge eating in a sample (N = 97) of individuals with elevated hoarding symptoms. Results revealed that hoarding severity was associated with increased body mass index (BMI) and symptoms of binge eating. In addition, difficulties regulating emotions mediated the association between hoarding and eating concerns. Considering the lack of information on hoarding behaviors, as well as its classification as a new diagnosis within DSM-5, these findings add considerably to a growing body of literature on hoarding disorder.

Background Distress intolerance (DI) is conceptualized as an individual difference reflective of the ability to tolerate aversive psychological states. Although high DI has demonstrated cross-sectional associations with multiple forms of psychopathology, few studies have tested key facets of its theoretical conceptualization. Specifically, little research has been conducted on DI's theorized role as an incrementally valid prospective moderator of the relationship between daily stressful events and affective symptoms reflective of preoccupation with aversive internal (e.g., depression, worry) rather than external stimuli (e.g., social anxiety). Method A non-clinical sample (N = 147; 77% female; M age = 19.32) in which high DI individuals were oversampled was recruited. Participants completed baseline measures of DI and trait negative affect followed by six diary entries over a two-week period in which participants reported on daily stressors, negative affect, worry, depressive, and social anxiety symptoms. Results Hierarchical linear models revealed that DI positively predicted depressive and worry, but not social anxiety symptoms, independent of daily stressors and negative affect. Further, a significant interaction effect was found such that the positive association between daily stressor(s) occurrence and daily worry was significant at high, but not low DI, and a similar trend-level interaction effect was observed for depressive symptoms. The interaction for social anxiety symptoms was non-significant Limitations Utilization of a non-clinical sample precludes generalization of results to clinical samples. Only self-reported DI was assessed, limiting conclusions to perceived as opposed to behaviorally-indexed DI. Conclusions Results largely supported DI's theoretical conceptualization as an incrementally valid moderator of stress responding with relevance to particular affective symptoms.

Subclinical presentations of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), wherein patients are one or two symptom criteria short of the full disorder, are prevalent and associated with levels of distress and impaired functioning approximating that of full PTSD. Nonetheless, research examining treatment efficacy for this group is in the nascent stage. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the subclinical PTSD group would: (1) show a greater reduction in PTSD symptoms at pre and post treatment in response to an exposure based treatment and (2) show a greater rate of change over the course of treatment, when compared to the full criteria PTSD group. We also examined whether differences would emerge when examining PTSD symptom clusters. Consistent with predictions, the subclinical PTSD group demonstrated a greater reduction in PTSD symptoms at post-treatment (29%) than those with a PTSD diagnosis (14%). Further, the groups had different treatment trajectories, with the subclinical PTSD group showing a marginally greater rate of change during the course of treatment. Findings also varied by symptom cluster with the subclinical group showing a greater rate of change in the intrusions, hyper-vigilance, and avoidance symptom clusters. There was not a significant between group difference in the numbing symptom cluster. This study provides preliminary evidence that treating PTSD symptoms at the subclinical level may result in a larger, and more rapid symptom reduction, and thus has implications supporting treatment earlier in the developmental trajectory of the disorder.

The misuse of alcohol is related to numerous detrimental health effects. Research has determined anxiety sensitivity (AS) to be a risk factor for problematic alcohol use. To date, no studies have investigated this relationship using a bifactor model of AS. This study used a bifactor model to determine the effects of the general AS factor and the cognitive, physical, and social concerns subfactors on alcohol-related outcomes.The sample consisted of 329 participants selected from a larger sample of individuals in a brief smoking-cessation intervention. Latent factor models were used to determine the effects of the bifactor model of AS on alcohol use behavior.The general AS factor was significantly associated with alcohol use problems but not alcohol consumption. The AS subfactors of cognitive, physical, and social concerns were not significantly related to either alcohol variable.The findings are inconsistent with previous research that has found associations between the AS subfactors and alcohol-related outcomes. The use of a bifactor model of AS allowed the variance associated with AS to be parceled out of the subfactors, indicating that general AS accounts for the relationship between AS and alcohol misuse.

Introduction There is limited work that has examined the effect of quitting smoking on anxious arousal, an underlying dimension of anxiety symptoms and psychopathology. Method Smokers ( n = 185, 54.1% female) enrolled in a smoking cessation treatment trial were monitored post-cessation in terms of abstinence status (biochemically verified; at Weeks 1, 2, and Month 1 post-quit) and severity of panic-relevant symptoms (self-reported; at Month 1 and 3 post-quit). Structural equation models were conducted, adjusting for participant sex, age, treatment condition, and pre-cessation nicotine dependence, presence of depressive/anxiety disorders, anxious arousal, and anxiety sensitivity. Results After adjusting for covariates, participants who remained abstinent for one month ( n = 80; 43.2%) relative to those who did not ( n = 105; 56.8%) demonstrated significant reductions in anxious arousal at Month 1 ( β = −.26, p = .04) and Month 3 post-quit ( β = −.36, p = .006); abstinence status had a non-significant effect on anxious arousal severity at Month 3 after controlling for Month 1 anxious arousal ( β = −.18, p = .09). Discussion Findings align with theoretical models of smoking-anxiety interplay and suggest that smoking cessation can result in reductions in anxious arousal.

The present study evaluated the effects of cannabis motives on multi-substance use in an effort to examine the incremental validity of cannabis motives with respect to substance use outcomes.Participants were 167 treatment-seeking smokers (41.92% female; Mage=28.74; SD=11.88) who reported smoking an average of 10 or more cigarettes daily for at least one year.Structural equation modeling was used to examine the association between cannabis motives and two dependent variables each for alcohol (drinking frequency and alcohol problems), cannabis (cannabis use frequency and cannabis problems), and tobacco (average cigarettes per day and nicotine dependence). Findings indicated that conformity motives were linked with increases in alcohol problems and cannabis problems. Enhancement motives were associated with increased cannabis use and cannabis problems. Coping motives were linked with increased cannabis use and cannabis problems. Contrary to expectations, expansion motives were associated with reductions in the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Also, results supported expectations that the observed effects due to cannabis motives were unique from shared variance with theoretically relevant covariates.The present findings supported predictions that cannabis motives would evince effects on the use of multiple substances over and above theoretically relevant variables. However, results indicate that the relationship between cannabis motives and multi-substance use is complex, and therefore, additional research is warranted to better understand substance use intervention.

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) comprises three lower-order dimensions, physical concerns, cognitive concerns, and social concerns, all of which are related to unipolar mood and anxiety disorders (emotional distress disorders). The pattern of these relations suggests that AS cognitive concerns might be best classified as associated with emotional distress disorders clustered together as distress disorders whereas AS physical concerns might be best classified as associated with emotional distress disorders clustered together as fear disorders. In contrast, AS social concerns appears to be generally associated with both fear and distress disorders. To test the specificity of lower-order AS dimensions, structural equation modeling was employed in a sample of 579 individuals (M age = 36.87 years, SD = 13.47; 51.6 % male) constituting a sample at risk for psychopathology as these individuals were seeking smoking cessation treatment. AS physical concerns was associated with the fear disorders dimension, even when controlling for negative affect (NA). AS cognitive concerns was associated with the distress disorder dimension, only when the effects of NA were not included. Finally, AS social concerns demonstrated non-specific relations with both the distress and fear disorders dimensions. Given that measures of AS and psychopathology were collected concurrently, these findings cannot address the role of lower-order AS dimensions as risk factors for specific psychopathology clusters. These results provide further support for the hierarchical model of emotional distress disorders as well as implicate AS cognitive and physical concerns as important variables at the intermediate level of this model.

A multivariate independent pathway model was used to examine the shared and unique genetic and environmental influences of Positive Affect (PA), Negative Affect (NA), and effortful control (EC) in a sample of 686 twin pairs (M age = 10.07, SD = 1.74). There were common genetic influences and nonshared environmental influences shared across all three temperament dimensions and shared environmental influences in common to NA and EC. There were also significant independent genetic influences unique to PA and NA and significant independent shared environmental influences unique to PA. This study demonstrates that there are genetic and environmental influences that affect the covariance among temperament dimensions as well as unique genetic and environmental influences that influence the dimensions independently.