The Genetic and Environmental Contributions of Negative Valence Systems to Internalizing Pathways study (also referred to as the Adolescent and Young Adult Twin Study) was designed to examine varying constructs of the negative valence systems as they relate to the development of internalizing disorders from a genetically informed perspective. The goal of this study was to evaluate genetic and environmental contributions to potential psychiatric endophenotypes that contribute to internalizing psychopathology by studying adolescent and young adult twins longitudinally over a two-year period. This report details the sample characteristics, study design, and methodology of this study. The first wave of data collection (i.e., time 1) is complete; the 2-year follow-up (i.e., time 2) is currently underway. A total of 430 twin pairs (N=860 individual twins; 166 monozygotic pairs; 57.2% female) and 422 parents or legal guardians participated at time 1. Twin participants completed self-report surveys and participated in experimental paradigms to assess processes within the negative valence systems. Additionally, parents completed surveys to report on themselves and their twin children. Findings from this study will help clarify the genetic and environmental influences of the negative valence systems and their association with internalizing risk. The goal of this line of research is to develop methods for early internalizing disorder risk detection.

The Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale (MPVS; Mynard & Joseph, 2000) is a 16-item self-report scale that captures peer victimization across four dimensions: physical victimization, verbal victimization, social manipulation, and attacks on property. Performance of the scale has not been evaluated among older adolescents. We examined the factor structure, internal consistency reliability, and performance of the scale in two separate epidemiological U.S. samples representing different age groups: 9-14 year olds (N=610) and 15-17 year olds (N=524). The four-factor structure of the scale was affirmed in both samples, however; there was not metric invariance by gender in the younger age group. The scale and its subscales were found to have good internal consistency. Expected relationships between the MPVS and measures of irritability, anxiety, and depression were affirmed. Results support continued use of the MPVS among child and adolescent samples.

Recognizing others’ emotional expressions is vital for socioemotional development; impairments in this ability occur in several psychiatric disorders. Further study is needed to map the development of this ability and to evaluate its components as potential transdiagnostic endophenotypes. Before doing so, however, research is required to substantiate the test-retest reliability of scores of the face emotion identification tasks linked to developmental psychopathology. The current study estimated test-retest reliability of scores of one such task, the facial expression labeling task (FELT) among a sample of twin children (N = 157; ages 9–14). Participants completed the FELT at two visits two to five weeks apart. Participants discerned the emotion presented of faces depicting six emotions (i.e., happiness, anger, sadness, fear, surprise, and disgust) morphed with a neutral face to provide 10 levels of increasing emotional expressivity. The present study found strong test-retest reliability (Pearson r) of the FELT scores across all emotions. Results suggested that data from this task may be effectively analyzed using a latent growth curve model to estimate overall ability (i.e., intercept; r’s = 0.76—0.85) and improvement as emotions become clearer (i.e., linear slope; r’s = 0.69—0.83). Evidence of high test-retest reliability of this task’s scores informs future developmental research and the potential identification of transdiagnostic endophenotypes for child psychopathology.

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Although misophonia is not yet included in the primary diagnostic manuals used by psychologists or psychiatrists, proposed criteria suggest that this condition is characterized by a strong negative reaction to and avoidance of certain trigger sounds. Misophonic trigger sounds are largely human-made (e.g., chewing and slurping) and evoke responses such as disgust, irritation, and/or anger that are out of proportion to the situation and cause distress and/or impairment. Currently, there is no gold standard evidence-based treatment for misophonia. As the misophonia treatment literature grows, several important questions are arising: (1) should exposure to aversive sound triggers be included in treatment for misophonia and (2) how can clinicians best assess misophonia symptoms. This case offers one example of misophonia being successfully treated with a cognitive-behavioral approach to treatment (including exposures) in an adolescent girl. This case also offers an example of how clinicians may conduct a comprehensive assessment of misophonia symptoms. Theoretically and empirically derived recommendations for including exposure in misophonia treatment are presented. Information from this case may be helpful in informing future research, as there is a paucity of evidence-based assessment and treatment protocols for misophonia.

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Introduction As the use of electronic cigarettes (EC) continues to rise in the United States, especially among adolescents and young adults, it is necessary to better understand factors associated with EC initiation. Specifically, it is unclear how genetic and environmental contributions influence the initiation of EC. Further, the degree to which genetic and environmental influences are shared between EC initiation and conventional cigarette (CC) initiation is unknown. Methods A sample of young adult twins ages 15-20 (N = 858 individuals; 421 complete twin pairs) was used to estimate the genetic and environmental influences on the liability of initiation unique to EC and CC as well as the degree to which these factors are shared between the two. Approximately 24% of participants initiated use of EC, 19% initiated use of CC, and 11% initiated dual use. Results Combined contributions of additive genetic and shared environmental influences were significant for CC (ACC = 0.19 [95% CI = 0-0.79], p = 0.57; CCC = 0.42 [95% CI = 0-0.70], p = 0.13) and EC (AEC = 0.25 [95% CI = 0-0.83, p = 0.44; CEC = 0.42 [95% CI = 0-0.73], p = 0.12), while unique environmental influences were significant (ECC = 0.39 [95% CI = 0.18-0.57], p < 0.001; EEC = 0.32 [95% CI = 0.14-0.56], p < 0.001). Results also demonstrated a significant overlap of the unique environmental (rE = 0.87, p < 0.001) and familial influences contributing to correlation between the two phenotypes in the bivariate analysis. Conclusions These preliminary results suggest that both genes and environmental influences are potential drivers of electronic cigarette initiation among adolescents and young adults. Implications This article is the first to use a sample of twin to estimate the contributions of genetic and environmental influences toward EC initiation and estimate the potential for overlapping influences with CC initiation. This study has implications for future debate about the etiology of EC and CC use with respect to potential overlapping genetic and environmental influences.

Measurement limitations lessen the conclusions about the role of the alliance in youth psychosocial treatment. This article examined the score reliability, factor structure, and validity of the 9-item Therapy Process Observational Coding System for Child Psychotherapy-Alliance scale (TPOCS-A). The sample, 51 youth aged 7-15 years (M age = 10.36 years, SD = 1.90; 86.3% White; 60.8% male, 39.2% female), met diagnostic criteria for a principal anxiety disorder and received cognitive-behavioral therapy. Treatment sessions (N = 463) were coded by independent coders using the TPOCS-A along with observational measures of treatment adherence and therapist competence. Youth and therapists also completed self-report alliance measures at the end of each session. Reliability estimates, ICC(2,2), at the item level indicated a mean interrater reliability of .68 (SD = .10) and a mean coder stability of .64 (SD = .11). An exploratory factor analysis identified a one-factor solution with five items. TPOCS-A scores evidenced convergent validity with the therapist and adolescent reports of alliance but did not converge with the child-report alliance measure. TPOCS-A scores evidenced discriminant validity when compared with scores on adherence and competence measures. The reliability and validity profile of the 9-and 5-item versions of the TPOCS-A were similar. Overall, findings support the reliability and validity of the TPOCS-A scores, but questions remain about how best to assess the alliance with children. Public Significance StatementThe alliance, defined as the quality of the relationship between youth and therapist, is thought to be an important part of successful youth treatment. The study found that observers can be trained to rate the youth-therapist alliance in youth treatment and that their ratings are comparable to other ways of assessing alliance.