Etiology

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Etiology

• Multidimensional perspective
• Neuroscience
• Behavioral genetic
• Social/cultural
• Cognitive
• Behavioral
• Personality
• Environment

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Gene x Environment Models

• Diathesis-stress model
• Diatheses and stressors interact to produce
  psychopathology
• Whats a diathesis?
• Stable individual difference or vulnerability
  factor
• Genes
• Personality
• Cognitive style
• Body image

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Gene x Environment Models

• Whats stress?
• Major vs. minor
• Chronic vs. temporary
• Positive vs. negative

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Diathesis-Stress Model
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Gene x Environment Models

• A statistical interaction is involved
• Nature vs. nurture is outdated
• Nature via nurture (Ridley, 2003)
• Hebbs analogy

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Biology

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral genetics

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Anatomy of a Neuron
100-150 billion in human brain
Flow of information
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Synaptic Transmission
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Neurotransmitters

• Serotonin and mood
• Dopamine hypothesis

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Behavioral Genetics

• Behavioral genetics research
• Partitioning variance among genetic, shared
  environment, and unshared environment
• Psychopathology/Personality
• Genes Shared Environment Unshared Environment
  Interactions

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Group Exercise

• Environmental and personality
• What are some important environmental factors
  that you and your (pretend) sibling share?
• What are some you dont share?
• If you and your sibling had been separated at
  birth
• what would happen to the environmental factors
  you share? (increase, decrease, remain the same)
• what would happen to the amount of shared genes?

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Research Methods in Behavioral Genetics

• Adoption study
• Adopted children raised by vs. not by biological
  parents
• When raised apart, shared environment decreases.
• Twin study
• Identical and fraternal twins

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Telegan et al. (1988)

• Concordance in personality among MZ twins raised
  together is remarkably similar to concordance
  among MZ twins raised apart
• Criticisms of twin studies

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Shared Environment Can Matter!

• Galea et al. (2007)
• 1355 NYC residents interviewed
• Environmental predictors of depression
• Controlling for age, income, race/ethnicity, sex

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Whats depression?

• Extremely sad or depressed mood state
• Anhedonia loss of pleasure/interest in usual
  activities

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Environment and Depression

• Significant (positive) predictors of depression
• Housing units with some non-functioning kitchen
  families
• Housing units experiencing over three heat
  breakdowns in winter
• Housing units needing additional heating in
  winter
• Housing units with a large area of peeling
  plaster or paint
• Buildings observed in deteriorating condition
• Buildings with any window problems

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Environment and Depression

• Explanations
• Psychosocial stress
• Limitations
• Correlational nature of data

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Experimental Study of Environment

• Leventhal Brooks-Gunn (2003)
• Move volunteer families in high-poverty public
  housing to lower-poverty places
• Funded by non-profit groups
• Random assignment to
• Move to low poverty (lt 10 poor) neighborhood
• Control group

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Experimental Study of Environment

• Measures
• Parental depression and anxiety
• Children an index of behavior problems
• Anxious/depressive
• Dependency
• Headstrong (argumentative)
• Antisocial

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Experimental Study of Environment

• Outcomes 3 years later
• Experimental parents had lower
• Depression and anxiety
• Experimental children had lower
• Depression and anxiety
• Dependence (boys only)
• No effect on childrens headstrong or antisocial
  levels.

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Social Influences and Eating Disorders

• 90 to 95 of cases are females
• Womens magazines 10.5 times more weight loss
  ads/articles than mens!
• Striegel-Moore et al. (1986)
• Thin ideal
• Appearance and female gender role
• Importance of appearance to success

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Do the Media Matter?

• Eating disorders on the rise
• Garner et al. (1980)
• 1959 to 1978 Playboy and Miss America contestants
• Smaller hip measurements
• Wiseman et al. (1992)
• 69 and 60 of Playboy and Miss America
  contestants 15 or more below normal weight

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Media Influences Self-Esteem

• Exposure to thin models ?
• Decreased self-esteem
• Decreased weight satisfaction (Irving, 1990)

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Cognitive Influences on Depression

• Three main components
• A???
• B???
• C???
• Cognitive style
• Individuals enduring pattern of appraising life
  events
• Can be adaptive or maladaptive (cognitive
  vulnerability)

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Etiology Becks Cognitive Triad
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Examples of Dysfunctional Beliefs

• I am nothing if a person I love doesnt love me
• If I am to be a worthwhile person, I must be
  truly outstanding in at least one major respect
• If others dislike you, you cannot be happy
• If I do not do well all the time, people will not
  love me

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Cognitive Vulnerability

• Haeffel et al. (2007)
• Measures
• Cognitive Style Questionnaire
• Five-Week Longitudinal Study
• Cognitive style ? depressive symptoms (if high
  stress)

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Diathesis-Stress Model
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Personality Psychopathology

• Neuroticism and extroversion are the two big
  predictors
• When and Why do they predict psychopathology?

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Personality and Psychopathology

• Neuroticism and stress
• Van Os Jones (1999)
• 5362 individuals
• Neuroticism, life events, and mental health at
  ages 16, 37, and 43.
• Longitudinal design

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Personality and Psychopathology

• Van Os Jones
• Neuroticism predicted subsequent mental health
• Life events predicted mental health
• Childhood neuroticism interacted with life events

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Diathesis-Stress Model
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Gene x Environment Models

• Diathesis-stress model
• Inherited tendencies (diatheses) and stressful
  conditions interact

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Diathesis-Stress Model
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Gene x Environment Models

• Reciprocal gene-environment model
• Diathesis-stress
• Genes ? Environment

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Gene x Environment InteractionsCadoret et al.
(1983)

• Sample
• 367 adoptees with biological vulnerabilities
  (separated at birth)
• Dependent measure
• Parent interviews about truancy, trouble with the
  law, lying

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Gene x Environment InteractionsCadoret et al.
(1983)

• Genetic variables
• Antisocial background in biological family
• Alcoholism background in biological family
• Environmental variables
• Adoptive parent psychopathology
• Adoptive parent divorces

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Gene x Environment InteractionsCadoret et al.
(1983)
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Gene x Environment Studies of Depression

• 847 New Zealanders followed from 3 to 26
• Risk of depression should be higher for those
  with 2 short alleles of the 5-HTT gene than long
  alleles
• Interaction with environment
• 5-HTT connection to serotonin

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Life Stress, Depression, and Serotonin
Transporter Gene (5-HTT)
Caspi et al., 2003
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Summary and Conclusions

• Biology x Environment
• Genes x life stress
• Cognitions x Environment
• Cognitive style x life stress
• Personality x Environment
• Neuroticism x life stress