In this article, we examine evidence supporting the role of reproductive steroids in the regulation of mood and behavior in women and the nature of that role. In the first half of the article, we review evidence for the following: (i) the reproductive system is designed to regulate behavior; (ii) from the subcellular to cellular to circuit to behavior, reproductive steroids are powerful neuroregulators; (iii) affective disorders are disorders of behavioral state; and (iv) reproductive steroids affect virtually every system implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. In the second half of the article, we discuss the diagnosis of the three reproductive endocrine-related mood disorders (premenstrual dysphoric disorder, postpartum depression, and perimenopausal depression) and present evidence supporting the relevance of reproductive steroids to these conditions. Existing evidence suggests that changes in reproductive steroid levels during specific reproductive states (i.e., the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, parturition, and the menopause transition) trigger affective dysregulation in susceptible women, thus suggesting the etiopathogenic relevance of these hormonal changes in reproductive mood disorders. Understanding the source of individual susceptibility is critical to both preventing the onset of illness and developing novel, individualized treatments for reproductive-related affective dysregulation. © 2016 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 6:1135-1160, 2016e.

Given the high risk of psychopathology among recently immigrated Central American adolescents, the aim of this study was to examine several putative protective factors: parental attachment, peer attachment, and school engagement. Based on prior research with other immigrant groups, parental and peer attachment were expected to correlate with reduced mental health problems, increased prosocial behavior, and increased resilience. However, the current study sought to add to existing data regarding putative protective factors by testing the incremental contribution of school engagement over and above existing support from parents and peers. The present study included 78 recently immigrated adolescents from Central America who were enrolled at a public high school for recent immigrants. Findings revealed that school engagement made a significant, positive contribution to mental health and resilience for youth above and beyond the effects of parental and peer attachment. Specifically, school engagement (i.e., subscales Behavioral Engagement, Emotional Disaffection, and Active Behavioral Disaffection) uniquely contributed to models predicting externalizing psychopathology, prosocial behavior, and resilience. In sum, the findings of this study preliminarily suggest that fostering school engagement may have protective effects for recently immigrated youth above and beyond traditional (i.e., peer, family) supports. (PsycINFO Database Record

High rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and elevated levels of aggression are common among youth in inpatient psychiatric settings. Several models link trauma exposure to aggression through anomalous mental state reasoning. Some theoretical frameworks linking trauma to aggression specify that the over-attribution of hostile mental states contributes to the development of aggressive behavior whereas other theories suggest that an inhibition of mental state reasoning leads to aggressive behavior. Using a sample of inpatient adolescents, the current study examined relations between PTSD symptoms and four forms of aggression, exploring the role of both over- and under-mentalizing (i.e., hypo- and hypermentalizing) as mediators and gender as a moderator. The results suggest that hypermentalizing, but not hypomentalizing, mediates the relation between trauma and aggression, extending prior research related to inpatient adolescents for the first time. Evidence of moderated mediation was noted, such that this mediational relation was evident for females but not males. The current study offers support for differential underlying causes of aggression among males and females with PTSD symptoms.

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The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems 32 (IIP-32; Horowitz, Aiden, Wiggins, & Pincus, 2000) is a brief, 32-item, self-report questionnaire used to screen for interpersonal problems. While studies of the IIP-32's psychometric properties have been conducted in other nations, and studies have examined the psychometric properties of the IIP-32's circumplex structure, no studies have examined the factor-analytic structure in the United States since the original standardization sample. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the IIP-32 in American college women for the first time and explore its structural validity as a circumplex measure and its concurrent validity with measures of attachment. The current study found that internal consistency estimates and interscale correlations were generally high and confirmed the proposed circumplex structure. In addition, concurrent validity was evidenced by confirming theorized relations between attachment and the IIP-32 subscales. However, IIP-32 subscales were limited with regard to divergent validity.