New Research From Clinical Psychological Science

The Importance of Independent Empirical Evidence and Why We Disagree With Multmeier et al. (2021)
Sebastian Brand, Stefanie M. Jungmann, Johanna Kolb, and Michael Witthöft

Jungmann et al. (2020) found in a randomized controlled trial that using a health app to request health-related information appeared to lead to similar negative effects as searching online for health-related information. In 2021, Multmeier and colleagues criticized that study, suggesting that it had weak internal and external validity, among other concerns. Brand and colleagues respond to Multmeier and colleagues by critically evaluating their comments and asking for empirical evidence supporting their claims. They also provide an outlook on what they feel would be a constructive scientific discussion regarding the findings and why further peer-reviewed publications are essential. 

Mapping Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Youth Psychiatric Emergencies and Associations With Neighborhood Racial Composition, Child Opportunity, and Inequality
Belinda C. Chen et al.

This research suggests the existence of disparities in youth mental health needs as well as institutional racial biases in community responses to youth behavior. Chen and colleagues examined data on mobile crisis response (MCR) services, neighborhood opportunity, and child racial/ethnic population in Los Angeles County between 2016 and 2019. They found that Black and multiracial youth were overrepresented in MCRs relative to their county representation. Larger concentrations of child racial/ethnic-minority populations, less opportunity, and greater opportunity inequality were each associated with higher frequency of MCRs. Moreover, Black youth population density and higher inequality in education opportunity predicted higher incidence of MCRs.   

Do Past Events Sow Future Fears? Temporal Disintegration, Distress, and Fear of the Future Following Collective Trauma
Emma L. Grisham, Nickolas M. Jones, Roxane Cohen Silver, and E. Alison Holman

Prior adversity may increase individuals’ adverse responses to collective trauma, this research suggests. Grisham and colleagues examined the relationships between prior adversity and three responses to collective trauma: temporal disintegration (e.g., time slowing down, the present feeling disconnected from the past and future), distress, and fear of future trauma following two collective traumas (a university-based active shooter event and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001). Temporal disintegration was associated with elevated distress, which was related to greater fear of future trauma. Individuals who experienced prior adversity were especially likely to report temporal disintegration following collective trauma, suggesting that prior adversity may render people vulnerable to subsequent distorted time perceptions.   

The Dimensional Structure of Internalizing Psychopathology: Relation to Diagnostic Categories
Hannah R. Snyder et al.

Dimensional approaches capturing shared and specific internalizing dimensions of psychopathology might be more accurate than categorical diagnoses, this research suggests. Snyder and colleagues tested different models of the dimensional structure of internalizing psychopathology and the models’ relations with diagnoses of current and lifetime depressive and anxiety disorders. They found evidence for general and specific internalizing dimensions. Depression, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and panic attacks were all associated with a general internalizing factor that Snyder and colleagues suggest represents motivational anhedonia. GAD was also associated with a specific anxious apprehension factor, and SAD was associated with specific anxious apprehension and low positive affect factors.   

Risk Factors for Suicidal Behaviors in American Indian and Alaska Native Peoples: A Systematic Review
Anna Kawennison Fetter et al.

To gain insight into factors that influence risk for suicide attempts (SAs) among American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), Fetter and colleagues reviewed 45 articles. Results indicated that substance use, depression/hopelessness, childhood maltreatment, violent victimization, and friend/family-member death by suicide predicted SAs. For AI/AN youths specifically, risk-taking behaviors, family conflict, and school environment were also associated with SAs. Risk factors varied across age, sex, and region. However, Fetter and colleagues acknowledge limitations of this review, including heterogeneity in study design, measurement, and sampling. Given these limitations, Fetter and colleagues suggest strategies to advance the study of risk factors for AI/AN communities to prevent suicide. 

Whose Signals Are Being Amplified? Toward a More Equitable Clinical Psychophysiology
Daniel E. Bradford et al.

Bradford and colleagues analyze the current state of representation in clinical psychophysiology with a focus on the ongoing underrepresentation of Black participants in research. They illustrate issues of inequity and exclusion that are unique to clinical psychophysiology and consider intersections among social constructions of Blackness and the biased design of technologies used to measure electroencephalography, skin conductance, and other signals. The authors also highlight work by groups dedicated to quantifying and addressing these limitations. They discuss the need for reflection and input from a wider variety of affected individuals to develop and refine new technologies in psychophysiology. 

Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican American Women: Exploring Multilevel Sociocultural Moderators
Sarah G. Curci, Juan C. Hernández, Laura K. Winstone, Marisol Perez, and Linda J. Luecken

For Mexican American women, familism (prioritizing the needs of the family over and above individual needs and emphasizing supportive family relationships) might reduce the impact of discrimination on mental health, this research suggests. Curci and colleagues asked Mexican-origin women in the United States to report on their experiences of discrimination, depressive symptoms, familism, and neighborhood cultural cohesion. More frequent discrimination predicted higher subsequent depressive symptoms, but only for women who reported average and low familism. However, neighborhood cultural cohesion did not buffer the effect of discrimination on depressive symptoms.   

A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Worry and Rumination
Elizabeth C. Stade and Ayelet Meron Ruscio

Worry and rumination, as indexed by current self-report measures, appear to have common as well as distinct features, this research suggests. Stade and Ruscio conducted a series of meta-analyses evaluating the relationship between worry and different forms of rumination. They analyzed 719 effect sizes and found that: (a) worry was associated with global rumination and with the brooding and emotion-focused subtypes of rumination, and (b) worry showed a smaller, though still significant, association with the reflection subtype of rumination. Given that worry and rumination appear to reflect related but nonredundant constructs, researchers might want to study them together, when possible. 

Investigating Individual Variation Using Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling: A Tutorial With Tinnitus
Thomas L. Rodebaugh et al.

Research examining heterogeneous conditions, such as bothersome tinnitus, may benefit from methods that allow researchers to model dynamic relationships, such as dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM). Rodebaugh and colleagues illustrated how researchers can use DSEM to examine whether findings from group analyses apply to individuals. Forty-three individuals with bothersome tinnitus responded to up to 200 surveys each. In multilevel DSEM, survey items appeared to measure three factors (tinnitus bother, cognitive symptoms, and anxiety). Results indicated a reciprocal relationship between tinnitus bother and anxiety. DSEM models appeared useful in estimating individual-level paths for all but two individuals. 

Reflections on the Personality and Psychopathology Interface in Honor of Scott O. Lilienfeld: Toward Illuminating the Nature of the Processes Underlying Personality Disturbances
Mark F. Lenzenweger, Christopher J. Patrick, Ashley L. Watts, Robert D. Latzman, and Richard A. Depue

Lenzenweger and colleagues invite the reader to embrace Scott O. Lilienfeld’s scientific passion for the developing area of personality and psychopathology science. Lilienfeld, who died in 2020, was especially intrigued by the personality systems subserving the clinical construct/disorder of psychopathy. In this issue of the journal, various researchers who knew Lilienfeld at junctures in their academic careers celebrate his scientific interest in this area of clinical psychological science and share brief overviews of their contributions to the personality–psychopathology interface.    

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