Donald R. Lynam, Ph.D. - US grants

DESCRIPTION (adapted from the investigator's abstract): This study examines the adult antisocial outcomes and developmental histories of psychopathic children. Three separable, but related, outcomes are assessed-- psychopathy (in Cleckley's sense), antisocial personality disorder, and offending. Participants are the 508 members of the middle sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, which consists of 254 high-risk and 254 not-at-risk inner-city boys who were enrolled in the longitudinal study when they were 10 years old. When the boys were 12.5, they were assessed with a measure of psychopathy among other measures. This study proposes to re-assess the participants at age 21 in order to examine the developmental course and outcomes of early psychopathy. By extending the longitudinal study and including a specific focus on psychopathy, we plan to resolve several issues in the research on psychopathy at both the child and adult level. Specifically, we plan to learn these things: 1) whether psychopathy is stable across an eight-year period from late childhood to early adulthood; 2) whether the concept of "fledgling psychopathy" aids in predicting, over previous conduct problems, family factors, and other forms of psychopathology who becomes antisocial in adulthood and who does not; 3) if there are individual strengths that protect a child at-risk for adult psychopathy from developing it in adulthood; 4) if there are ameliorative and rehabilitative social experiences or environmental characteristics that protect children at risk. 5) what factors account for and mediate the stability in psychopathy across time; 6) if subclinical or so-called "successful" psychopaths can be identified and what factors distinguish them from unsuccessful psychopaths.

Impulsive behavior is an important contributor to substance misuse, which is prevalent in college samples. Our center (CDART) has identified four distinct personality traits that underlie impulsive behaviors: Negative Urgency (NU), lack of Premeditation (PRE), lack of Perseverance (PSV) and Sensation Seeking (SS). Our previous work clarified the roles of SS and PRE in substance misuse in the college population. In our more recent work, NU has emerged as an important and independent contributor to substance misuse. Even after controlling for SS and PRE, NU is related to the onset and escalation of substance misuse and other risky behaviors, and the relation between NU and alcohol use is mediated through different mechanisms than the relations for PRE and SS. Thus, our previous work clearly shows that understanding NU is critically Important to the prevention of substance misuse in college populations. The four proposed studies will use a range of methods to investigate the nature of NU and the mechanisms through which it exerts its effects. Study 1 will identify underlying biological substrates of NU using fMRI. It is predicted that regions in the prefrontal cortex associated with inhibitory control will show less activation in high NU participants when participants are experiencing negative affect. Study 2 will identify the affective contexts and response characteristics most important to NU. It is predicted that affect will be more important to NU than to other impulsivity traits and that NU will manifest in impulsive behavior on tasks that include prepotent responses and/or tasks in which an impulsive response is negatively reinforced. Study 3 will examine the interactions among impulsivity traits, affective contexts, and interpersonal contexts in predicting impulsive behavior in daily life. It is predicted that NU will be related to impulsive behavior when high NU participants are under the influence of negative mood. Other impulsivity traits, like SS, may be more responsive to interpersonal contexts. Study 4 will test whether an intervention designed to help high NU participants respond more adaptively to their negative affect can reduce future impulsive behavior. It is predicted that mindfulness training will reduce impulsive behaviors among high NU individuals but not among high SS individuals. RELEVANCE (See instructions): Prevention of substance misuse in college samples is important because of the associated public health risks, including death, injury, long-term illness, and disability. Negative urgency is a strong but understudied predictor of substance misuse. The proposed studies will contribute to prevention research by clarifying the nature of negative urgency and the mechanisms through which it exerts its effects on substance misuse.