ANXIETY, DISINHIBITION, AND RISK FOR DRUG ABUSE

这项申请要求为一项为期四年的研究提供资金，以调查13-17岁儿童药物滥用的心理生理标志，这些儿童由于其父母有这种情况的病史而处于药物滥用的高风险之中。这项建议的理论基础是寻找与药物滥用有关的两个主要人格维度有关的心理生理异常，即消极情感/焦虑和失禁/反社会行为。理论家提出了一种基于对厌恶和欲望刺激的反应的生物行为模型，以解释动机行为的神经生理学基础，并解释儿童精神障碍。该模型假设动机行为受到唤醒系统、行为抑制系统(BIS)和行为激活系统(BAS)的影响，行为抑制系统处理与厌恶刺激相关的信号，行为激活系统处理与奖励相关的信号。精神病理学被认为是这些系统内部失衡的结果。我们初步支持的主要假设是，在唤醒和/或情感反应方面的明显缺陷是物质滥用与焦虑和去抑制/反社会人格之间的关系的基础。具体地说，我们将考察以下儿童的父母：1)仅药物滥用，2)药物滥用和焦虑障碍，3)药物滥用和反社会人格障碍，以及3)无精神障碍：1.惊吓增强和自主神经系统(ANS)测量对厌恶刺激威胁的唤醒；2.ANS对奖励和取消奖励的反应；3.静止脑电的不对称性；4.BAS和BIS活动的心理生理学测量与与焦虑和失禁/反社会行为有关的气质特征之间的联系；5.子女的性别在父母病史与子女的心理生理、气质和临床特征之间的关系中的影响；6.结合临床和心理生理措施的易感性表型指数。

This application requests funding for a four-year study to investigate psychophysiological markers for substance abuse in children ages 13-17 who are at high risk for substance abuse by virtue of their parental history for this condition. The rationale for the present proposal is to search for psychophysiological abnormalities associated with the two main dimensions of personality linked to substance abuse, that is, negative affectivity/anxiety and disinhibited/antisocial behaviors. Theorists have proposed a biobehavioral model based on responses to aversive and appetitive stimuli to explain the neurophysiological basis of motivational behaviors and to account for childhood mental disorders. The model posits that motivational behaviors is influenced by an arousal system, and by a behavioral inhibition system (BIS), which processes signals related to aversive stimuli, and a behavioral activation system (BAS), which processes signal related to rewards. Psychopathology is assumed to result from an imbalance within these systems. The major hypothesis for which we have preliminary support is that distinct deficits in arousal and/or affective responses underlie the relationship between substance abuse and both anxiety and disinhibited/antisocial personality. Specifically we will examine the following in children of parents with 1) substance abuse only, 2) substance abuse and comorbid anxiety disorder, 3) substance abuse and antisocial personality disorder, and 3) no psychiatric disorders: 1. startle potentiation and autonomic nervous system (ANS) measures of arousal to threat of aversive stimuli; 2. ANS responses to reward and to the removal of reward; 3. Asymmetry of resting EEG; 4. the association between psychophysiological measures of BAS and BIS activity and temperamental characteristics associated with anxiety and disinhibited/antisocial behavior; 5. the effects of the gender of the offspring in the relationship between parental history and the offspring's psychophysiological, temperamental, and clinical characteristics; 6. phenotypic indices of vulnerability using combinations of clinical and psychophysiological measures.