Large fluctuations in a person's interpersonal behavior across situations and over time are thought to be associated with poor personal and interpersonal outcomes. This study examined 2 outcomes, relationship satisfaction and goal progress, that could be associated with individual differences in dispersion of interpersonal behavior (interpersonal spin) in romantic relationships. Need satisfaction and perceived autonomy support for goal pursuit from the partner were examined as mediator variables. Spin was measured using an event-contingent recording (ECR) methodology with a sample of 93 cohabiting couples who reported their interpersonal behavior in interactions with each other during a 20-day period. Relationship satisfaction and goal completion were measured at the end of the ECR procedure (T2) and approximately 7 months after the ECR (T3). Need satisfaction and perceived autonomy support were measured at T2. In both genders, higher spin was associated with lower T2 relationship satisfaction. There was also a decline in relationship satisfaction from T2 to T3 among men with high spin partners. In both genders, higher spin was associated with lower need satisfaction, and lower need satisfaction was associated with a decline in relationship satisfaction from T2 to T3. In both genders, higher spin was associated with lower perceived autonomy support, and lower support was associated with decreased progress in goal completion from T2 to T3. The effects of spin were independent of the effects of mean levels of behavior. These findings extend the understanding of the detrimental consequences of dispersion in interpersonal behavior to the disruption of the person's romantic relationships.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) provides an extensive toolbox to analyze the multivariate interrelations of directly observed variables and latent constructs. Multilevel SEM integrates mixed effects to examine the covariances between observed and latent variables across many levels of analysis. However, while it is necessary to consider model fit, traditional indices are largely insufficient to analyze model fit at each level of analysis. The present paper reviews i) the partially-saturated model fit approach first suggested by Ryu and West (2009) and ii) an alternative model parameterization that removes the multilevel data structure. We next describe the implementation of an algorithm to compute partially-saturated model fit for 2-level structural equation models in the open source SEM package, OpenMx, including verification in a simulation study. Finally, an example empirical application evaluates leading theories on the structure of affect from ecological momentary assessment data collected thrice daily for two weeks from 345 participants.

Symptoms of depression and anxiety are associated with interpersonal problems that, in turn, exacerbate and maintain these symptoms. The purpose of the present study was to identify patterns of interpersonal behavior characteristic of each syndrome, particularly whether intraindividual variability in interpersonal behavior differentiates between anxiety and depression symptoms. After reporting on depression and anxiety symptoms, community participants recorded their behavior following interpersonal interactions over 21 days. Participants' interpersonal behavior at each event was measured using behavior dimensions from the interpersonal circumplex: dominant, submissive, agreeable, and quarrelsome. Mean levels of behavior and intraindividual variability were computed over events and then regressed on depression and anxiety symptoms using structural equation modeling. Elevations in reported depression and anxiety symptoms were both associated with elevated mean-level quarrelsome and submissive behavior. Independent of mean-level behavior and concurrent depression symptoms, elevated anxiety symptoms were associated with elevated variability in agreeable, dominant, and submissive behavior and with elevated variability in type of interpersonal behavior (i.e., spin). Depression symptoms were unrelated to variability in interpersonal behavior. Results demonstrate that variability in behavior distinguishes anxiety from depression symptoms.

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.

Background Prior research consistently demonstrates that neuroticism increases risk for suicidal ideation, but the association between neuroticism and suicidal behavior has been inconsistent. Whereas neuroticism is recommended as an endophenotype for suicidality, the association of neuroticism with attempted suicide warrants clarification. In particular, prior research has not distinguished between correlates of attempted suicide, correlates of suicidal ideation, and correlates of comorbid psychopathology. Methods The present study used the CONVERGE study, a sample of 5,864 women with major depressive disorder and 5,783 women without major depressive disorder throughout China. Diagnoses, suicidal ideation, and attempted suicide were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Neuroticism was assessed with the neuroticism portion of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Results Results replicate prior findings on the correlates of suicidal ideation, particularly elevated neuroticism among individuals who report prior suicidal ideation. Moreover, as compared to individuals who reported having experienced only suicidal ideation, neuroticism was associated with decreased likelihood of having attempted suicide. Conclusions The association of neuroticism with suicidality is more complicated than has been previously described. Whereas neuroticism increases risk for suicidal ideation, neuroticism may decrease risk for a suicide attempt among individuals with suicidal ideation. These results have implications for the assessment of risk for a suicide attempt among individuals who report suicidal ideation and addresses prior discordant findings by clarifying the association between neuroticism and attempted suicide.

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Although breathing CO2-enriched air reliably increases anxiety, there is debate concerning the nature and specificity of CO2 hypersensitivity to panic risk and panic disorder versus anxiety disorders and related traits broadly, particularly among adolescents and emerging adults. The present study sought to clarify the association of CO2 hypersensitivity with internalizing conditions and symptoms among adolescents and young adults. Participants (N = 628) self-reported anxiety levels every 2 minutes while breathing air enriched to 7.5% CO2 for 8 minutes. Growth mixture models were used to examine the structure of anxiety trajectories during the task and the association of each trajectory with dimensional and diagnostic assessments of internalizing disorders. Three distinct trajectories emerged: overall low (low), overall high (high), and acutely increased anxiety (acute). Compared to the low class, the acute class reported elevated neuroticism, anxiety sensitivity, stress whereas the high class reported elevated anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, neuroticism, anxiety sensitivity, and increased likelihood of an anxiety disorder diagnosis. Moreover, the acute and high classes reported experiencing a panic-like event at a higher rate than the low class while participants in the high class terminated the task prematurely at a higher rate. The present study clarifies the nature of response to CO2 challenge. Three distinct response profiles emerged, which clarifies the manifestation of CO2 hypersensitivity in anxiety disorders with strong, though not unique, associations with panic-relevant traits.

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.