Faculty Bibliography

Children born with an inhibited temperament are at heightened risk for developing anxiety, depression and substance use. Inhibited temperament is believed to have a biological basis; however, little is known about the structural brain basis of this vulnerability trait. Structural MRI scans were obtained from 84 (44 inhibited, 40 uninhibited) young adults. Given previous findings of amygdala hyperactivity in inhibited individuals, groups were compared on three measures of amygdala structure. To identify novel substrates of inhibited temperament, a whole brain analysis was performed. Functional activation and connectivity were examined across both groups. Inhibited adults had larger amygdala and caudate volume and larger volume predicted greater activation to neutral faces. In addition, larger amygdala volume predicted greater connectivity with subcortical and higher order visual structures. Larger caudate volume predicted greater connectivity with the basal ganglia, and less connectivity with primary visual and auditory cortex. We propose that larger volume in these salience detection regions may result in increased activation and enhanced connectivity in response to social stimuli. Given the strong link between inhibited temperament and risk for psychiatric illness, novel therapeutics that target these brain regions and related neural circuits have the potential to reduce rates of illness in vulnerable individuals.

A growing body of literature suggests that parents socialize early-emerging prosocial behavior across varied contexts and in subtle yet powerful ways. We focus on discourse about emotions and mental states as one potential socialization mechanism given its conceptual relevance to prosocial behavior and its known positive relations with emotion understanding and social-cognitive development, as well as parents' frequent use of such discourse beginning in infancy. Specifically, we ask how parents' emotion and mental state talk (EMST) with their toddlers relates to toddlers' helping and how these associations vary by context. Children aged 18- to 30-months (n = 38) interacted with a parent during book reading and joint play with toys, two everyday contexts that afford parental discussion of emotions and mental states. Children also participated in instrumental and empathic helping tasks. Results revealed that although parents discuss mental states with their children in both contexts, the nature of their talk differs: during book reading parents labeled emotions and mental states significantly more often than during joint play, especially simple affect words (e.g., happy, sad) and explanations or elaborations of emotions; whereas they used more desire talk and mental state words (e.g., think, know) in joint play. Parents' emotion and mental state discourse related to children's empathic, emotion-based helping behavior; however, it did not relate to instrumental, action-based helping. Moreover, relations between parent talk and empathic helping varied by context: children who helped more quickly had parents who labeled emotion and mental states more often during joint play and who elicited this talk more often during book reading. As EMST both varies between contexts and exhibits context-specific associations with empathic prosocial behavior early in development, we conclude that such discourse may be a key form of socialization in emerging prosociality.

The study of comorbid psychopathology among persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is picking up steam. The purpose of this paper was to review and describe important characteristics of existing studies. Among the current crop of papers, depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been frequently evaluated. Groups studied have most frequently been children. Persons with ASD and normal intelligence quotient (IQ) scores have been studied more often than individuals with ASD and intellectual disability. Additional characteristics are discussed, and the implications of these data for future developments in the field are reviewed.

Aggression is a commonly co-occurring problem with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Comorbid aggression can be every bit as debilitating as core symptoms of ASD itself. As a result, careful identification of aggression, the context in which it occurs, and factors that maintain the behavior all have important implications for treatment. As a result, researchers have begun to develop methods and measures to assess aggression among persons with ASD. The purpose of this paper was to review measures that have been used to assess aggression among persons with ASD. We located 25 different assessment methods for both children and adults. The current status and future directions of this area of research are discussed.

The current study examined the relationship between ethnicity and the age at which parents first become concerned about their children's development in 1478 toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and atypical development. Based on the current findings, there were no racial/ethnic differences in age of parent's first concerns. Caregivers of toddlers with ASD first developed concerns around the same time independent of which ethnic groups they belong to. In addition, the age of caregivers' first concerns was significantly younger for those with ASD compared to those who are atypically developing without an ASD diagnosis. Implications regarding these findings are discussed. (c) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prior research assessing the relationship between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptom severity and sleep problems has considered the association in a unidirectional manner; researchers have primarily focused on how sleep difficulties affect ASD symptom presentation. Specifically, extant research literature on this topic indicates that sleep problems exacerbate ASD symptom severity. The present study provides an investigation of this topic in a bidirectional manner. Primary results corroborated the compounding effect of sleep problems on ASD symptom severity. Furthermore, the results of a multinomial linear regression provided preliminary evidence that increased ASD symptom severity may predict an increased likelihood of the presence of sleep problems. As such, the authors conclude that the relationship between ASD symptom severity and sleep problems should be considered bidirectionally in future research. Implications for a relationship in each direction are discussed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopment disorder that affects individuals of all ages. Currently, the majority of autism research is focused on children and adolescents. Although this trend has been a norm, there has not been research showing this pattern. The current review aimed to systematically review autism research in the past 20 years to determine who is being studied. The results of this review revealed that 94% of the reviewed studies (n = 2688) included younger population (infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents). Implications regarding these findings are discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research is limited in examining the presence of comorbid symptoms in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and co-occurring intellectual disability (ID). The current study aimed to expand knowledge in this area by evaluating the presence of comorbid symptoms in children and adolescents with ASD, compared to those with ASD and ID. Comorbid symptoms examined using the Autism Spectrum Disorders-Comorbidity for Children (ASD-C-C) included tantrum behavior, repetitive behavior, worry/depression, avoidant behavior, under-eating, conduct problems, and over-eating. Two hundred and nineteen children and adolescents ranging from 3 to 16 years of age participated in the study. Significant differences were not found between the groups on any of the comorbid symptoms measured. The implications of these findings on treatment are discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.