"Psychophysiology and Social Processes in Very Young Children with Externalizing Problems."

项目摘要/摘要 候选人的长期目标是发展一项独立的研究事业，以了解风险因素 对于生命周期中外化行为的发展。拟议的培训计划概述了四个 对实现这一目标至关重要的目标：1)扩展在获取和分析 心理生理变量，2)获得幼儿研究经验，3)在 统计技术，以测试调解/缓和，以及4)获得研究独立性的实用技能。 对立违抗障碍(ODD)在学龄前儿童中很普遍，它的存在 极大地增加了罹患其他各种精神疾病的风险。之前的工作已经完成 表现出不同关系的古怪(易怒、挑衅、报复)的不同维度 后来的精神病理学；然而，维度是高度相关的。因此，具有对立性的儿童 相似的表型表现，尽管是一个具有不同纵向轨迹的异质性群体。它 提出表型症状掩盖了携带不同风险的潜在过程，并且 唤醒/调节和社会过程系统中相反的过程可能导致两者的表型相似 介绍并解释纵向发展中的差异。提出了三个具体目标：1) 找出区分易怒和报复的相反的唤醒/调节过程。2)识别 反对区分易怒和报复的社会程序。3)检查以下各项的综合影响 在预测易怒和报复性方面的唤醒/调节和社会过程。预计迪法恩斯 将与易怒和复仇心高度相关，解释了表型相似性。 申请人将通过评估175名4-6岁的大新儿童来实现这些目标 奥尔良地区被确认为有行为问题。评估将包括唤醒/调节指数 (射血前期、心率变异性和皮肤电反应)在基线或情绪诱导期间 任务和社会过程指数(面部情绪识别的准确性和偏差)。拟议的研究 将在洛杉矶新奥尔良的杜兰大学和梅泰里的儿童咨询助理诊所举行， 洛杉矶。预期的结果是，易怒与高度生理唤醒和注意力集中有关。 偏向于消极的情绪刺激，而复仇心将与低生理唤醒和 情绪识别能力不足。预计这些相反的进程将解释 与精神病共病的不同关系。这些结果将有可能帮助 制定个体化干预措施，以降低与儿童有关的后期精神病理的风险 对立性。因此，拟议的研究符合高度优先的目标，即确定 增加精神疾病的易感性，并制定早期干预措施，以降低严重程度和 精神病理学的发病率。

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The candidate’s long-term goal is to develop an independent research career to understand risk factors for the development of externalizing behavior over the lifespan. The proposed training plan outlines four objectives critical to achieving this goal: 1) extend expertise in the acquisition and analysis of psychophysiological variables, 2) obtain research experience with young children, 3) obtain training in statistical techniques to test for mediation/moderation, and 4) gain practical skills for research independence. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is prevalent in preschool age children, and its presence substantially increases the risk of developing a full range of other psychiatric disorders. Prior work has differentiated dimensions of ODD (irritability, defiance, vindictiveness) that show differential relationships with later psychopathology; however, the dimensions are highly correlated. Thus, children with oppositionality have similar phenotypic presentations despite being a heterogeneous group with differing longitudinal trajectories. It is proposed that phenotypic symptoms mask the underlying processes that carry differential risks, and that opposing processes in arousal/regulation and social processes systems can lead to both phenotypically similar presentations and explain differences in longitudinal development. Three specific aims are proposed: 1) Identify opposing arousal/regulation processes that differentiate irritability and vindictiveness. 2) Identify opposing social processes that differentiate irritability and vindictiveness. 3) Examine the combined effects of arousal/regulation and social processes in predicting irritability and vindictiveness. It is expected that defiance will be highly correlated with both irritability and vindictiveness, explaining phenotypic similarity. The applicant will accomplish these aims by assessing 175 4-6 year-old children in the greater New Orleans area identified as having behavioral problems. Assessments will include indices of arousal/regulation (pre-ejection period, heart rate variability, and electrodermal response) during baseline or an emotion induction task, and indices of social processes (accuracy and bias in facial emotion recognition). The proposed research will take place at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA and the Child Counseling Associates clinic in Metairie, LA. The anticipated outcome is that irritability will be related to high physiological arousal and an attentional bias toward negative emotional stimuli, whereas vindictiveness will be related to low physiological arousal and deficient emotional recognition abilities. It is expected that these opposing processes will account for the differential relationships with comorbid psychopathology. These results would have the potential to aid the development of individualized interventions to reduce risk for later psychopathology associated with childhood oppositionality. Thus, the proposed research is in line with the high priority goal to identify mechanisms that confer vulnerability to psychiatric illnesses and develop early interventions for reducing the severity and incidence of psychopathology.