DOCSLIB.ORG

The Role of the Two-Factor Model of Impulsivity and Conscientiousness in Risk

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Role of the Two-Factor Model of Impulsivity and Conscientiousness in Risk The Role of the Two-Factor Model of Impulsivity and Conscientiousness in Risk- Taking and Harm Reduction Behaviours among Regular Ecstasy Users by Ashley Dawn Lynch B.Sc.(Psych), PostgradDip(Psych) Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Psychology (Clinical) University of Tasmania June, 2011 Declaration of Originality I declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it does not contain material from published sources without proper acknowledgement, nor does it contain material which has been accepted for the award of any other higher degree or graduate diploma at any university, nor does it contain any material that infringes copyright. Ashley Dawn Lynch June, 2011 2 Statement of Authority of Access This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Ashley Dawn Lynch June, 2011 3 Statement of Ethical Conduct The research associated with this thesis abides by the international and Australian codes on human and animal experimentation and the guidelines by the Australian Government’s Office of the National Health and Medical Research Council National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007). Approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee (Tasmania) Network. 4 Acknowledgements First and foremost I gratefully acknowledge the supervision of Dr. Raimondo Bruno for his generous support, expertise, guidance and flexibility. I would also like to recognise and thank Dr. Bruno and the Psychopharmacology and Clinical Psychopathology (PCP) Lab Group for the provision of necessary funds and facilities for this project. Thank you to Dr. Allison Matthews and the Ecstasy and Other Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) for allowing me to participate in collecting data and being involved with the EDRS. I also acknowledge the many internet drug forum websites that allowed me to advertise my research and participate in their online forums, and to the many forum users, thank you. Thank you as well to Dr. Jennifer Scott, for providing your expertise and revisions in relation to this project. 5 Table of Contents Declaration of Originality ............................................................................................ 2 Statement of Authority of Access ................................................................................ 3 Statement of Ethical Conduct ....................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 5 Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... 6 List of Tables .............................................................................................................. 10 List of Figures ............................................................................................................ 12 List of Appendices ...................................................................................................... 13 Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 14 Thesis Rationale and Aims ......................................................................................... 16 Chapter 1: Ecstasy: An Introduction .......................................................................... 18 Ecstasy: Two Distinct Groups of Users? ................................................................ 24 Chapter 2: Models of Personality ............................................................................... 26 Eysenck’s Three Factor Model of Personality ....................................................... 27 Extraversion ....................................................................................................... 29 Neuroticism ........................................................................................................ 30 Psychoticism ....................................................................................................... 31 The Five Factor Model of Personality .................................................................... 32 Extraversion ....................................................................................................... 33 Neuroticism ........................................................................................................ 34 Conscientiousness .............................................................................................. 34 Openness to Experience ..................................................................................... 34 Agreeableness ..................................................................................................... 35 Gray and the Two Dimensional Model of Personality ........................................... 39 Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) .................................................................. 40 Behavioral Activation System (BAS) .................................................................. 41 Cloninger and the Tridimensional Model of Personality ....................................... 44 Harm Avoidance (HA) ........................................................................................ 45 Novelty Seeking (NS) .......................................................................................... 46 Reward Dependence (RD) .................................................................................. 47 Personality Models: Relevance to REU and Risk-Taking ..................................... 50 Chapter 3: Sensation Seeking / Impulsivity ............................................................... 52 Rash-Spontaneous Impulsivity and Risk-Taking ................................................... 57 Rash-Spontaneous Impulsivity and Substance Use ................................................ 58 Rash-Spontaneous Impulsivity and Sexual Risk Taking........................................ 60 Rash-Spontaneous Impulsivity and Driving under the Influence .......................... 63 Chapter 4: Conscientiousness ..................................................................................... 72 Conscientiousness and Substance Use ................................................................... 75 Conscientiousness and Sexual Risk-Taking ........................................................... 76 Conscientiousness and Driving under the Influence .............................................. 76 Chapter 5: Rash-Spontaneous Impulsivity and Conscientiousness – ......................... 81 One Trait or Two? ...................................................................................................... 81 Chapter 6: The Role of Demographic Factors on Risk-Taking Behaviours .............. 82 Chapter 7: Study 1 Research Aims and Hypotheses .................................................. 83 Chapter 8: Study 1 Method ........................................................................................ 85 Party Drugs Initiative (PDI) ................................................................................... 85 Participants ............................................................................................................. 85 6 Procedure ................................................................................................................ 89 Materials ................................................................................................................. 90 PDI Questionnaire ............................................................................................. 90 Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS) .................................................... 91 International Personality Item Pool Responsibility Scale (IPIP: Re) ................ 92 Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) .......................................... 93 Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) .................................................................. 95 Development of Risk Categories ............................................................................ 96 Sexual Risk Category .......................................................................................... 96 Alcohol Driving Risk Category .......................................................................... 96 Cannabis Driving Risk Category ....................................................................... 97 Party Drug Driving Risk Category .................................................................... 97 Crime Risk Category .......................................................................................... 97 Binge Risk Category ........................................................................................... 98 Overdose Risk Category ..................................................................................... 98 Injecting Risk Category ...................................................................................... 98 Statistical Analyses ................................................................................................. 99 Chapter 9: Study 1 Results ....................................................................................... 100 Exploratory Analyses ........................................................................................... 100 Demographic Variables ..................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • An Association Study of a Functional Polymorphism of the Serotonin
    Molecular Psychiatry (1998) 3, 449–451 1998 Stockton Press All rights reserved 1359–4184/98 $12.00 ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE cal power. Here we report data from a population sam- ple of 759 Caucasians which is larger than any study so far. The study includes measures of anxiety-related An association study of a personality traits (neuroticism, negative affect, behavioral inhibition), anxiety and depressive symp- functional polymorphism of toms, and a measure of alcohol misuse. The allele frequencies were 56.5% for the long allele the serotonin transporter and 43.5% for the short. The genotype frequencies gene with personality and were: long/long 33.5%, long/short 46.1%, and short/short 20.4%. psychiatric symptoms Table 1 shows the mean scores on the personality and psychiatric symptom measures. For most scales, AF Jorm1, AS Henderson1, PA Jacomb1, the numbers of subjects were slightly smaller than H Christensen1, AE Korten1, B Rodgers1, indicated in the table because of missing data. There X Tan2 and S Easteal2 were no significant differences at the P Ͻ 0.05 level on any measure when the data were analyzed by geno- 1NHMRC Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Centre, The type. Similarly, there were no significant differences Australian National University, Canberra 0200; 2John when short/short and long/short individuals were Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National combined into one group and contrasted with the University, Canberra 0200, Australia long/long group. There were also no significant differ- ences between genotypes in age, sex, education or occupational status, so it was not necessary to adjust Keywords: neuroticism; extraversion; psychoticism; anxiety; for these as covariates in the analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Personality Associations with Mood, Hoarding, Health and Well-Being Janet Katherine Spittlehouse
    Personality Associations with Mood, Hoarding, Health and Well-being Janet Katherine Spittlehouse A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychological Medicine University of Otago, Christchurch New Zealand 31 August 2016 Abstract Background: Personality has been of interest since ancient times. Hippocrates, also known as ‘The father of Western Medicine’ was possibly the first to document the association between personality and mental and physical health by describing the ancient medical theory of Humourism. Over the last 100 years the study of personality has been evolving and there are many different perspectives. Trait perspectives have become popular but they lack any underlying theory about how personality develops. Psychobiological models offer descriptions of personality and provide testable theories on how biology influences their development. A robust psychobiological model is Cloninger’s psychobiological theory and it provided the basis for this project. Objectives: This project explored the associations of personality in different mental health settings using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI; Cloninger, Przybeck, Svrakic, & Wetzel, 1994), the personality inventory developed by Cloninger and colleagues, that is suitable for measuring both normal and abnormal personality. The TCI was used to examine the impact of depression on personality measurement and personality associations to self-reported physical and mental health, mood disorders, hoarding behaviours and well-being. Methods: Participants for this project were from three studies. Two randomised clinical trials designed to examine predictors of treatment response for depressed outpatients using either antidepressant medication (N=195) or psychotherapy (N=177) were used to examine the impact of depression on measures of personality.
    [Show full text]
  • Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ)
    M Multidimensional Personality pertaining to affective sensitivity and motivation, Questionnaire (MPQ) interpersonal style, behavioral restraint and con- formity, tolerance versus avoidance of risk, and Christopher J. Patrick1 and Mark D. Kramer2 capacity for imaginative engagement. Its 1Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA 11 lower-order (“primary”) trait scales map onto 2University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA three higher-order factors that correspond to tem- perament dimensions. Its content and measure- ment properties have made the MPQ Definition advantageous (relative to other well-known per- sonality inventories) for clarifying how psycho- The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire logical attributes with presumed bases in (MPQ) is a self-report inventory that assesses temperament relate to adaptive and maladaptive personality in terms of 11 lower-order (“primary”) behavior. We first describe the development of the trait scales, which load onto three higher-order MPQ, the basic traits and broad factors it assesses, factors reflecting temperament dimensions. The and alternative brief-screening and simplified- full-length version of the inventory is 276 items; wording forms. We then discuss its associations shorter standard-wording and simplified-wording with other personality inventories and ways it has forms (155 items and 157 items, respectively) are been used to advance understanding of clinical- also available. Each item of the MPQ is answered psychological disorders. (We thank Professor either “true” or “false.” The inventory also con- Auke Tellegen, the author of the MPQ, for his tains validity scales that assess for random valuable input on a draft version of this article.) responding, acquiescence versus “nay-saying,” and social desirability. The MPQ has proven par- ticularly useful for clarifying how temperament- Development and Description of Scales/ related psychological dispositions relate to nor- Factors mative and maladaptive behavior.
    [Show full text]
  • Personality As an Intermediate Phenotype for Genetic Dissection of Alcohol Use Disorder
    J Neural Transm (2018) 125:107–130 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-016-1672-9 PSYCHIATRY AND PRECLINICAL PSYCHIATRIC STUDIES - REVIEW ARTICLE Personality as an intermediate phenotype for genetic dissection of alcohol use disorder 1 1 1 2 Lars Oreland • Gianvito Lagravinese • Simone Toffoletto • Kent W. Nilsson • 3,4 5 1 Jaanus Harro • C. Robert Cloninger • Erika Comasco Received: 2 November 2016 / Accepted: 23 December 2016 / Published online: 4 January 2017 Ó The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Genetic and environmental interactive influences candidate monoaminergic genes (e.g., tryptophan hydrox- on predisposition to develop alcohol use disorder (AUD) ylase, serotonin receptors, monoamine oxidases, dopamine account for the high heterogeneity among AUD patients receptors and transporter) are sparse. Only one genome- and make research on the risk and resiliency factors com- wide association study has been performed so far and plicated. Several attempts have been made to identify the identified the ABLIM1 gene of relevance for novelty genetic basis of AUD; however, only few genetic poly- seeking, harm avoidance and reward dependence in alco- morphisms have consistently been associated with AUD. hol-dependent patients. Studies investigating genetic fac- Intermediate phenotypes are expected to be in-between tors together with personality could help to define more proxies of basic neuronal biological processes and noso- homogenous subgroups of AUD patients and facilitate logical symptoms of AUD. Personality is likely to be a top treatment strategies. This review also urges the scientific candidate intermediate phenotype for the dissection of the community to combine genetic data with psychobiological genetic underpinnings of different subtypes of AUD.
    [Show full text]
  • Personality Traits As Risk Factors of Depression and Anxiety Among Japanese Students ᮢ
    Personality Traits as Risk Factors of Depression and Anxiety Among Japanese Students ᮢ Tomomi Matsudaira and Toshinori Kitamura Kumamoto University The aim of this study is to examine the effects of personality (tempera- ment and character) on specific depression and specific anxiety. A total of 541 Japanese undergraduates were investigated by using the Tempera- ment and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depres- sion (HAD) scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that specific depression was predicted by lower Reward-Dependence, Per- sistence, Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence; spe- cific anxiety was predicted by higher Novelty-Seeking, Harm-Avoidance, Persistence, and Self-Transcendence, and lower Self-Directedness. Imma- turity of Self-Directedness is a risk factor for negative affectivity. Imma- turity of all character dimensions is a risk factor for specific depression. The relationship between Harm-Avoidance and depression in previous studies may be linked partly to somatic symptoms that were deliberately eliminated in the HAD scale. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psy- chol 62: 97–109, 2006. Keywords: personality; temperament; character; depression; anxiety The relationship between personality traits and depressed or anxious moods has been studied in several models (Beck, Epstein, & Harrison, 1983; Clark, Watson, & Mineka, 1994; Cloninger, 1986; Eysenck, 1957, 1967; Gray, 1981; Larsen & Ketelaar, 1991; Tel- legen, 1985). Among many personality traits, neuroticism was strongly related to Major Depression in terms of lifetime prevalence and severity (Duggan, Lee, & Murray, 1990; Scott, Eccleston, & Boys, 1992). However, individuals who had higher neuroticism and lower extroversion exhibited higher anxiety (Gershuny & Sher, 1992). The severity of Generalized Anxiety Disorder was positively associated with the traits of anxiety and neuroticism and was negatively associated with extroversion (Gomez & Francis, 2003).
    [Show full text]
  • Genetics of Personality
    Molecular Psychiatry (2003) 8, 840–852 & 2003 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved 1359-4184/03 $25.00 www.nature.com/mp FEATURE ARTICLE Genetics of personality: are we making progress? S Van Gestel1 and C Van Broeckhoven1 1Department of Molecular Genetics, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB8), University of Antwerp (UIA), Antwerpen, Belgium For centuries, scientists are intrigued by the differences in personality between individuals. As early as in the ancient Greek civilization, people tried to formulate theories to systematize this diversity. With the increased interest in behavior genetics, personality was also considered a challenging phenotype. From the early start, studies suggested a heritable component in personality. After the successes of molecular genetic studies in unraveling the genetic basis of (mostly) monogenic diseases, the focus shifted towards complex traits, including psychiatric disorders. It was observed in several studies that personality measures differed between patients with psychiatric disorders and healthy controls. Therefore, normal personality was considered a viable endophenotype in the search for genes involved in psychiatric disorders such as affective disorders, ADHD and substance dependence. Genes that were to be found in studies on personality could be candidate genes for particular psychiatric disorders. In the course of time, however the study of genes for personality turned out to be at least as hard as the search for genes involved in other complex disorders. In this review, past studies, present problems and future directions concerning the study of personality genetics are discussed. Molecular Psychiatry (2003) 8, 840–852. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001367 Keywords: personality; temperament; character; genetics; candidate genes; polymorphisms; susceptibility Different people have different personalities.
    [Show full text]
  • Sensation Seeking and Impulsive Traits As Personality Endophenotypes for Antisocial Behavior: Evidence from Two Independent Samples
    Personality and Individual Differences 105 (2017) 30–39 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid Sensation seeking and impulsive traits as personality endophenotypes for antisocial behavior: Evidence from two independent samples Frank D. Mann a,⁎, Laura Engelhardt a, Daniel A. Briley b, Andrew D. Grotzinger a, Megan W. Patterson a, Jennifer L. Tackett c, Dixie B. Strathan d, Andrew Heath e, Michael Lynskey f,WendySlutskeg, Nicholas G. Martin h, Elliot M. Tucker-Drob a,i, K. Paige Harden a,i a Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States b Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States c Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States d Faculty of Arts and Business, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia e Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MI, United States f Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK g Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States h Genetic Epidemiology, Molecular Epidemiology and Neurogenetics Laboratories, Queensland Institute of Medial Research, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia i Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States article info abstract Article history: Sensation seeking and impulsivity are personality traits that are correlated with risk for antisocial behavior (ASB). Received 24 July 2016 This paper uses two independent samples of twins to (a) test the extent to which sensation seeking and impulsivity Received in revised form 8 September 2016 statistically mediate genetic influence on ASB, and (b) compare this to genetic influences accounted for by other per- Accepted 10 September 2016 sonality traits.
    [Show full text]
  • (5-HTTLPR) and Trait Anxiety
    Molecular Psychiatry (2004) 9, 197–202 & 2004 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved 1359-4184/04 $25.00 www.nature.com/mp ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE A meta-analysis of the association between the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and trait anxiety JA Schinka1,2, RM Busch1,3 and N Robichaux-Keene1,4 1Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, Tampa, FL, USA; 2Department of Psychiatry, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA; 3Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA; 4Department of Psychology, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA Studies of the association between polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) and trait anxiety have produced inconsistent results, raising questions about the strength of the relationship and the methodological conditions under which the relationship holds. We conducted a meta-analysis of existing studies to provide formal statistical measures of the strength of the linked polymorphic region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR)– anxiety relationship. For the entire collection of 26 studies, results provided no support for a relationship between anxiety and the presence of the short form of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism. There was strong evidence of the presence of moderating variables, however, and subsequent analysis revealed that choice of the measure of trait anxiety was significant. Studies using the Neuroticism scale of Costa and McCrae were found to produce a small positive effect (d¼0.23). Other potential moderators (country of study origin, type of subject) did not have a meaningful impact on d statistics. These findings indicate that 5-HTTLPR may in fact have a small but reliable influence on personality, particularly in the manifestation of trait anxiety when measured with a neuroticism scale based on the five-factor model of personality.
    [Show full text]
  • (Tci-R): Descriptive and Factor Structure in Different Age Levels1
    Behavioral Psychology / Psicología Conductual, Vol. 18, Nº 2, 2010, pp. 385-401 THE TEMPERAMENT AND CHARACTER INVENTORY REVISED (TCI-R): DESCRIPTIVE AND FACTOR STRUCTURE IN DIFFERENT AGE LEVELS1 Anton Aluja, Angel Blanch, Salvador Gallart and Joan-Marc Dolcet University of Lleida (Spain) Abstract This study was aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties and the relationship of age with the answers, internal consistency and factorial structure of the TCI-R. The questionnaire was responded by a sample of 928 voluntary subjects (396 males and 532 women), with a mean age of 30 years old. The participants under 30 scored substantially higher in Novelty Seeking, and to a lesser extent in Reward Dependence, while aged subjects scored significant higher in Harm Avoidance, Self-Directiveness and Cooperation. The global coefficients of factorial congruence were higher than 0.90 in all age groups. The goodness-of-fit indexes in the CFA were unsatisfactory for the simple structure models, although improved when considering secondary loadings. Implications for further research with the TCI-R are discussed. KEY WORDS: TCI-R, factorial analysis, personality models, confirmatory factor analysis, Personality aging difference. Resumen Este estudio fue diseñado para evaluar algunas propiedades psicométricas del “Inventario de temperamento y carácter-revisado” (TCI-R), como la consistencia interna y la estructura factorial en función de diferentes grupos de edad. El inventario fue contestado por 928 sujetos (396 varones y 532 mujeres), con una edad media de 30 años. Los participantes menores de 30 años puntuaron sustancialmente más alto en Búsqueda de novedad y en menor medida en Dependencia del refuerzo, mientras los sujetos de mayor edad puntuaron significativamente más alto en Evitación del daño, Autodirección y Cooperación.
    [Show full text]
  • Hostility: a Prospective Study of the Genetic and Environmental Background and Associations with Cardiovascular Risk Päivi Merjonen
    University of Helsinki, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Studies in Psychology 80: 2011 Hostility: A prospective study of the genetic and environmental background and associations with cardiovascular risk Päivi Merjonen Hostility: A prospective study of the genetic and environmental background and associations with cardiovascular risk Päivi Merjonen Unit of Personality, Work, and Health Psychology Institute of Behavioural Sciences University of Helsinki, Finland Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences at the University of Helsinki in sh302, 3th floor, Siltavuorenpenger 3 A, on the 23th of November, 2011, at 12 o’clock University of Helsinki Institute of Behavioural Sciences Studies in Psychology 80: 2011 Supervisors: Professor Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland Docent Laura Pulkki-Råback Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland and Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Finland Docent Markus Jokela Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland Reviewers: Professor Niklas Ravaja Department of Social Research, Social Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland and Director of Research, Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research, Aalto University, School of Economics, Finland Professor (ma) Ari Haukkala Department of Social Research, Social Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland Opponent: Professor Jussi Kauhanen Head of the Institute of Public Health and Clinical
    [Show full text]
  • A Positive Relationship Between Harm Avoidance and Brain Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Availability
    Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 214 (2013) 415–421 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychresns A positive relationship between harm avoidance and brain nicotinic acetylcholine receptor availability Steven Storage a,b, Mark A. Mandelkern b,c, Jonathan Phuong b, Maggie Kozman b, Meaghan K. Neary b, Arthur L. Brody a,b,d,n a UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA b Department of Research, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA c Department of Physics, University of California at Irvine, CA, USA d Department of Psychiatry, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA article info abstract Article history: Prior research indicates that disturbance of cholinergic neurotransmission reduces anxiety, leading to the Received 18 November 2012 hypothesis that people with heightened cholinergic function have a greater tendency toward anxiety-like Received in revised form and/or harm-avoidant behavior. We sought to determine if people with elevated levels of harm 22 June 2013 avoidance (HA), a dimension of temperament from the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), Accepted 25 July 2013 have high α4β2n nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) availability. Healthy adults (n¼105; 47 non- smokers and 58 smokers) underwent bolus-plus-continuous infusion positron emission tomography Keywords: (PET) scanning using the radiotracer 2-[18F]fluoro-3-(2(S)azetidinylmethoxy) pyridine (abbreviated as Harm avoidance 2-FA). During the uptake period of 2-FA, participants completed the TCI. The central study analysis Temperament and Character Inventory revealed a significant association between total HA and mean nAChR availability, with higher total HA Tobacco scores being linked with greater nAChR availability.
    [Show full text]
  • Association and Linkage of Anxiety-Related Traits with a Functional Polymorphism of the Serotonin Transporter Gene Regulatory Re
    Molecular Psychiatry (2000) 5, 216–219 2000 Macmillan Publishers Ltd All rights reserved 1359-4184/00 $15.00 www.nature.com/mp ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Association and linkage of anxiety-related traits with a functional polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene regulatory region in Israeli sibling pairs Y Osher1, D Hamer2 and J Benjamin3 1Beer Sheva Mental Health Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, POB 4600, Beer Sheva, Israel; 2Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; 3Soroka Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, POB 151, Beer Sheva, Israel Keywords: neuroticism; harm avoidance; anxiety; genetics; to any TPQ traits, which led to the proposal that the serotonin transport effects of this gene might vary across ethnic groups or 11 A functional polymorphism in the regulatory region of cultures. In possible support of this idea, a United the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) has been States study12 found a significant interaction between reported to be both associated and linked to anxiety- 5-HTTLPR genotype and race for NEO-PI-R neuroti- related personality measures, although other studies cism, which suggests that the relationship between the have not replicated these findings. The current study allele and anxiety-related traits may be obscured by the examines both association and linkage of the gene to effects of differing phenotypes and differing gene fre- two major anxiety-related personality measures, the quencies in different populations (population harm avoidance scale on the Tridimensional Personality stratification). Several other studies13–15 found no Questionnaire and the neuroticism scale of the NEO-PI- R, in a sample of 148 Israeli subjects comprising 74 association of the 5-HTTLPR with various personality same-sex sibling pairs.
    [Show full text]