Patients with the Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) clinical syndrome have diverse forms of neuropathology, one of which is the cellular and molecular abnormalities of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), at post mortem autopsy. Structural anatomical differences might aid in ante mortem differential diagnosis of neuropathology. The studies in this dissertation investigated one...
Substance use and substance use disorder (SUD) may be variables that influence the course of HIV/AIDS risk behaviors as youth age. To our knowledge, no prospective longitudinal study has examined the association between categories of substance use disorders including alcohol use disorder alone, marijuana use disorder alone, comorbid drug use...
Depression in children and adolescents is a prevalent, recurrent, and frequently chronic disorder, representing a considerable public health burden (Birmaher, Ryan, Williamson, Brent, & Kaufman, 2005; Costello et al., 2002). Consequently, an understanding of the disorder is critical for future intervention and prevention efforts. Previous research attempting to clarify family...
Background: The tripartite model (Clark & Watson, 1991) has been used to represent the substrates of general distress in both depression and anxiety (Negative affectivity [NA]), while also characterizing specific features of decreased positive affectivity (PA) in depression and increased physiological hyperarousal (PH) in anxiety. Core affect characterizes affect by...
The National Institute of Mental Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality convened an expert panel to identify the top research priorities in the field of behavioral intervention technology (BIT) research. The panel determined that if BIT research is to evolve in an effective way to reach and...
Neurocognitive dysfunction, while common among those with schizophrenia, is thought to be exacerbated in violent individuals with schizophrenia and contribute to the commission of violent acts. Few studies have compared performance on neurocognitive measures between violent and nonviolent schizophrenia samples. Better understanding neurocognitive dysfunction in violent individuals with schizophrenia could...
AIMS: This study investigated the longitudinal effects of internal and external housing quality problems on child mental health outcomes, as measured by child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The study also aimed to elucidate the mechanisms through which housing quality problems affect child mental health by testing the mediating effects...
Youth with comorbid depression and conduct disorder (CD) in the juvenile justice system are a particularly vulnerable population. Comorbidity of depression and CD, as well as juvenile justice involvement, is associated independently with impairment and negative outcomes. Nevertheless, service provision to this high-need population is especially lacking. The purpose of...
Child psychology research has helped to identify how symptoms and deficits, or psychiatric needs impact the human experience, immediately and across development. Recent investigations indicate that strengths, both those possessed by the individual, and those present in her environment, exert short- and long-term protective influence that buffers the impact of...
Despite its prevalence, cost, and association with high risk for negative outcomes, there is a lack of empirically-based procedures for effective treatment of dual diagnosis in adolescents. The present study attempts to address the need for research informing effective treatment of this population. Strengths have been found to predict positive...