Attachment and Effortful Control in Toddlerhood Predict Academic Achievement Over a Decade Later.

A child's attachment to his or her caregiver is central to the child's development. However, current understanding of subtle, indirect, and complex long-term influences of attachment on various areas of functioning remains incomplete. Research has shown that (a) parent-child attachment influences the development of effortful control and that (b) effortful control influences academic success.

Mapping emotional disorders at the finest level: Convergent validity and joint structure based on alternative measures.

Background: Traditional categorization of emotional disorders suffers from within-disorder heterogeneity and excessive comorbidity. Quantitative nosology instead proposes grouping homogenous components of these disorders within a higher order internalizing dimension. However, the precise number, composition, and hierarchical structure of these components remains unclear and varies based on assessment tools.

Hierarchical structure of emotional disorders: From individual symptoms to the spectrum.

Classification of emotional disorders faces challenges of within-disorder heterogeneity and between-disorder comorbidity. The current study addressed these issues by analyzing all emotional disorder symptoms to identify homogeneous dimensions that characterize this domain. These dimensions were, in turn, used to define coherent syndromes and higher order factors.

The brief experiential avoidance questionnaire: development and initial validation.

The 62-item Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ) was recently developed to assess a broad range of experiential avoidance (EA) content. However, practical clinical and research considerations made a briefer measure of EA desirable. Using items from the original 62-item MEAQ, a 15-item scale was created that tapped content from each of the MEAQ's six dimensions.

Development of a measure of experiential avoidance: the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire.

Experiential avoidance (EA) has been conceptualized as the tendency to avoid negative internal experiences and is an important concept in numerous conceptualizations of psychopathology as well as theories of psychotherapy. Existing measures of EA have either been narrowly defined or demonstrated unsatisfactory internal consistency and/or evidence of poor discriminant validity vis-à-vis neuroticism. To help address these problems, we developed a reliable self-report questionnaire assessing a broad range of EA content that was distinguishable from higher order personality traits.

Linking "big" personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: a meta-analysis.

We performed a quantitative review of associations between the higher order personality traits in the Big Three and Big Five models (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, disinhibition, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness) and specific depressive, anxiety, and substance use disorders (SUD) in adults.

The validity of self-report assessment of avoidance and distress.

Both distress and behavioral avoidance have been implicated in the development and maintenance of many forms of psychopathology. However, it is still unclear whether these constructs can be distinguished, or whether both can independently explain comorbid psychopathology (CP) as they are normally assessed (via self-report methods). To help address these questions, we assessed distress and avoidance in relation to phobic situations via structured interview in a sample of college students (N=385) and a sample of psychiatric outpatients (N=288).

Abnormal personality and the mood and anxiety disorders: implications for structural models of anxiety and depression.

Substantial overlap exists between the mood and anxiety disorders. Previous research has suggested that their comorbidity can be explained by a shared factor (negative emotionality), but that they may also be distinguished by other unique components. The current study explicated these relations using an abnormal personality framework.