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Lay Abstract: The "double empathy problem" refers to breakdowns in communication and understanding that frequently occur between autistic and non-autistic people. Previous studies have shown that autistic people often establish better rapport and connection when interacting with other autistic people compared to when interacting with non-autistic people, but it is unclear whether this is noticeable to non-autistic observers. In this study, 102 non-autistic undergraduate students viewed and rated video recordings of "get to know you" conversations between pairs of autistic and non-autistic adults. Sometimes the pairs were two autistic people, sometimes they were two non-autistic people, and sometimes they were "mixed" interactions of one autistic and one non-autistic person. Observers tended to rate non-autistic participants and their interactions the most favorably, but-consistent with the "double empathy problem"-they rated mixed interactions between autistic and non-autistic people as the least successful. They also perceived that only non-autistic people disclosed more when interacting with a non-autistic conversation partner. Autistic participants' partners in the conversations tended to evaluate them more favorably than did outside observers, suggesting that personal contact may facilitate more positive evaluations of autistic people. Furthermore, observers expressed less social interest in participants than did the autistic and non-autistic participants in the interactions. Together, these findings suggest that non-autistic observers both detect and demonstrate some aspects of the double empathy problem.

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced fundamental challenges to nearly all aspects of college students' lives, yet changes in key domains of their health, including weight concerns, remain untested. The current study utilized a longitudinal project comprised of 355 young-adult college students (M age =19.5, 66.8% female, 33.2% male) oversampled for recent substance use behavior. Participants completed multiple assessments (mode = 5) from September 2017 to September 2021. Piecewise growth-curve models tested whether COVID-19 onset was associated with changes in the trajectories of young adults' weight concerns. Analyses also examined participants' sex as a moderator of these trajectories. On average, participants reported a significant increase in weight concern levels around the start of COVID-19, although weight concern slopes were not significantly different before and after COVID-19. Additionally, moderation analyses showed that females (but not males) had a significant increase in weight concern levels after COVID-19 onset., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: It is known that cannabis use affects memory and sleep problems independently. However, to date, how memory and sleep problems may interact as a result of cannabis use remains unknown. Objectives: We performed a secondary analysis of existing data to determine whether sleep quality mediates the association between cannabis use and memory and whether sex moderated these effects. Methods: A total of 141 adults with cannabis use disorder (CUD) (83 men) and 87 without CUD (39 men) participated in this study. Outcome measures included self-reported sleep problems from the past 7 days (Marijuana Withdrawal Checklist), learning and memory performance via the short visual object learning task (sVOLT), short visual object learning task delayed (sVOLTd), and verbal memory via the N-back. Bootstrapped mediation and moderated mediation analyses were run to test if sleep quality mediated the association between cannabis use and memory outcomes and whether sex moderated these effects, respectively. Results: Sleep quality mediated the effect of group (i.e. adults with and without CUD) on sVOLT efficiency scores (indirect effect ß = -.08, 95% CI [-0.14, -0.04]) and sVOLTd efficiency scores (indirect effect ß = -.09, 95% CI [-0.14, -0.04]), where greater sleep difficulties was associated with poorer memory performance (decreased efficiency scores). Sex did not moderate these relationships. Conclusion: These initial findings of a mediating role of sleep in the association between CUD and visual learning memory highlight potential critical downstream effects of disrupted sleep in those with CUD and suggest the importance of investigating sleep in CUD.

Background: Paranoia is a spectrum of fear-related experiences that spans diagnostic categories and is influenced by social and cognitive factors. The extent to which social media and other types of media use are associated with paranoia remains unclear., Objective: We aimed to examine associations between media use and paranoia at the within- and between-person levels., Methods: Participants were 409 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum or bipolar disorder. Measures included sociodemographic and clinical characteristics at baseline, followed by ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) collected 3 times daily over 30 days. EMA evaluated paranoia and 5 types of media use: social media, television, music, reading or writing, and other internet or computer use. Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine paranoia as a function of each type of media use and vice versa at the within- and between-person levels., Results: Of the 409 participants, the following subgroups reported at least 1 instance of media use: 261 (63.8%) for using social media, 385 (94.1%) for watching TV, 292 (71.4%) for listening to music, 191 (46.7%) for reading or writing, and 280 (68.5%) for other internet or computer use. Gender, ethnoracial groups, educational attainment, and diagnosis of schizophrenia versus bipolar disorder were differentially associated with the likelihood of media use. There was a within-person association between social media use and paranoia: using social media was associated with a subsequent decrease of 5.5% (fold-change 0.945, 95% CI 0.904-0.987) in paranoia. The reverse association, from paranoia to subsequent changes in social media use, was not statistically significant. Other types of media use were not significantly associated with paranoia., Conclusions: This study shows that social media use was associated with a modest decrease in paranoia, perhaps reflecting the clinical benefits of social connection. However, structural disadvantage and individual factors may hamper the accessibility of media activities, and the mental health correlates of media use may further vary as a function of contents and contexts of use., (© Vincent Paquin, Robert A Ackerman, Colin A Depp, Raeanne C Moore, Philip D Harvey, Amy E Pinkham. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org).)

People with serious mental illness have challenged self-awareness, including momentary monitoring of performance. A core feature of this challenge is in the domain of using external information to guide behavior, an ability that is measured very well by certain problem-solving tasks such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) . We used a modified WCST to examine correct sorts and accuracy decisions regarding the correctness of sort. Participants with schizophrenia (n = 99) or bipolar disorder (n = 76) sorted 64 cards and then made judgments regarding correctness of each sort prior to feedback. Time series analyses examined the course of correct sorts and correct accuracy decisions by examining the momentary correlation and lagged correlation on the next sort. People with schizophrenia had fewer correct sorts, fewer categories, and fewer correct accuracy decisions (all p<.001). Positive response biases were seen in both groups. After an incorrect sort or accuracy decision, the groups were equally likely to be incorrect on the next sort or accuracy decision. Following correct accuracy decisions, participants with bipolar disorder were significantly (p=.003) more likely to produce a correct sort or accuracy decision. These data are consistent with previous studies implicating failures to consider external feedback for decision making. Interventions aimed at increasing consideration of external information during decision making have been developed and interventions targeting use of feedback during cognitive test performance are in development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Dr. Raeanne C. Moore is a co-founder of KeyWise AI, Inc. and a consultant for NeuroUX. Dr. Harvey has received consulting fees or travel reimbursements from Alkermes, Boehringer Ingelheim, Karuna Therapeutics, Minerva Neuroscience, Roche Pharma, and Sunovion Pharma. He receives royalties from the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia, which is owned by WCG-Endpoint Solutions and is part of the MATRICS Consensus Battery. He is chief scientific officer of iFunction, Inc. Dr. Pinkham has served as a consultant for Roche Pharma. The other authors have no potential Biomedical Conflicts of Interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

People with schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar disorders have difficulty accurately estimating their abilities and skills (impaired introspective accuracy [IA]) and tend to over- or underestimate their performance. This discrepancy between self-reported and objective task performance has been identified as a significant predictor of functional impairment. Yet, the factors driving this discrepancy are currently unclear. To date, the relationships between sleep quality and IA have not been examined. The current study aimed to explore the relationships between sleep quality and IA in participants diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCZ; n = 36), schizoaffective disorder (SCZ-A; n = 55), and bipolar disorder with psychotic features (BP; n = 87). Participants completed tasks of emotion recognition, estimated their performance on the tasks (used to calculate IA), and provided confidence ratings for their accuracy judgments. Participants also self-reported their sleep quality. These results suggest significantly greater discrepancies between self-reported and actual task scores for those with SCZ and SCZ-A compared to participants with BP. For those with SCZ, lower confidence on the tasks and underestimation of abilities were associated with lower sleep quality, while for those with SCZ-A, lower sleep quality was associated with higher confidence and overestimation of performance. Results suggest differential relationships between diagnostic groups. Future research is needed to further explore the factors driving these differing relationships, particularly the contrasting relationships between SCZ and SCZ-A.

Aim: People with serious mental illness (SMI) are at an increased risk for suicide. Social approach and avoidance motivations are linked to social functioning, and social isolation is a risk factor for suicide. This study uses ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to understand social approach and avoidance motivations in relation to symptoms and suicidal ideation (SI)., Methods: Participants ( N  = 128) diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or a mood disorder with psychotic features completed assessments of SI and symptoms at baseline. They completed EMA surveys 3×/day for 10 days. EMA surveys included questions about approach and avoidance motivations and psychotic symptoms. Participants were split into four groups based on the median scores of approach and avoidance., Results: Participants with SI at baseline had higher mean social avoidance motivation, t (126) = 2.84, p = .003, and lower mean social approach motivation, t (126) = -2.44, p = .008, than participants without baseline SI. Greater baseline positive symptoms were related to greater mean avoidance, r = .231, p = .009, but not approach motivation. The low approach/high avoidance group had significantly higher current SI than those with high approach/low avoidance ( p < .001). Overall, the low approach/high avoidance group reported more EMA-measured voices than the low approach/low avoidance group ( p  < .001) and the high approach/low avoidance group ( p < .001). Similarly, the low approach/high avoidance group reported more EMA-measured suspiciousness than the low approach/low avoidance ( p < .001) and the high approach/low avoidance groups ( p < .001)., Conclusion: The results of this study point to the role of social approach and avoidance motivations in relation to SI and psychotic symptoms. Clinically, exposure therapies and cognitive behavioral therapies may help to address these social approach and avoidance processes linked to SI.

Abstract: Models of affect, like the tripartite model, suggest that positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) are independent between subjects and negatively correlated within. Correlations may differ in bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and clinical ratings, this secondary analysis evaluated the tripartite model by examining PA and NA. Two hundred eighty-one participants with BD or a psychotic disorder completed 30 days of EMA of PA and NA, and clinical raters assessed depression. PA and NA were more related between subjects and less related within subjects among participants with schizophrenia. In BD, lower momentary PA was positively associated with clinical ratings of depression, although greater momentary NA was not significantly associated with clinical ratings. In schizophrenia, the inverse was found. These results suggest that the tripartite model was not confirmed in people with schizophrenia or BD. However, PA and NA manifested associations in BD that were more congruent with population studies than in schizophrenia. These findings may have implications for clinical interventions targeting depression, PA, and NA in these populations., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Some research suggests that schizotypal and autistic traits can produce opposing effects on the mentalizing domain of social cognition. Although such findings support a diametrical model proposing that psychotic and autistic traits represent opposite extremes of the social brain continuum, results from recent studies have been more inconsistent, and the applicability of this model to other social cognition domains remains unclear. To test the diametrical model more broadly, this study examined the interactions between schizotypal and autistic traits on emotion recognition and social functioning., Method: A total of 791 participants recruited from the general population self-reported schizotypal traits using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief Revised (SPQ-BR) and autistic traits using the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ). Participants also completed the Emotion Recognition 40 task and the Specific Levels of Functioning (SLOF) scale., Results: The SPQ subscales of interpersonal relationships and disorganized symptoms interacted significantly with social BAP on overall emotion recognition performance and the accuracy of identifying neutral faces. Supporting the diametrical model, elevated levels of both schizotypal and autistic traits contributed to higher emotion recognition accuracy compared to elevations on only one trait. For social functioning, however, the diametrical model was not supported. A main effect was found such that higher interpersonal relationship difficulties on SPQ predicted lower work skills on SLOF, and higher levels of both schizotypal and autistic traits combined to produce even lower social functioning., Conclusions: These findings suggest that the diametrical model may be more relevant to social cognition than to social functioning., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The study explored associations between the accuracy of post assessment judgements of cognitive performance with global self-assessments of psychosocial functioning compared to evaluations generated by observers in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder., Methods: An abbreviated cognitive assessment based on the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery was administered to 122 individuals with schizophrenia and 113 with bipolar disorder. They provided self-estimates of their performance after each subtest. In addition, self-reports on cognition, social cognition, and everyday functioning were collected and compared to observer ratings., Results: Both groups overestimated their cognitive function, but in bipolar disorder, there was 30% shared variance between task performance and self-rated task performance (vs. 5% in schizophrenia). Significant correlations were found between self-reported everyday outcomes and both actual and self-assessed performance. In schizophrenia, immediate judgements were only related to self-rated functioning, not to observer rated functioning. In bipolar disorder, impairments in self-assessment of performance correlated with observer ratings of cognitive ability, which was not observed in schizophrenia., Conclusions: While both groups showed correlations between cognitive performance and introspective accuracy, individuals with bipolar disorder showed higher accuracy in assessing their cognitive performance and other outcomes. Notably, impairments in introspective accuracy were associated with observer-rated functioning exclusively in bipolar disorder.

Objective: Millions of cancer survivors are at risk for cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI), yet accurate and accessible assessments of cognitive functioning remain limited. Ecological mobile cognitive testing (EMCT) could offer a solution. This paper presents the protocol for a study that aims to (1) establish the reliability and validity of EMCT to assess CRCI in breast cancer survivors, and (2) prospectively evaluate within-person processes (and interactions) among context, mood, and behavior that explain cognitive variability, everyday functioning, and quality of life of cancer survivors., Methods: Participants will include breast cancer survivors (>21 years old) who are within 5 years of completing chemotherapy treatment. Participants will complete two virtual visits (baseline, follow-up) 2 months apart to assess self-reported cognitive symptoms and cognitive performance, sociodemographic characteristics, clinical history, everyday functioning, and quality of life. Between virtual visits, EMCT will be used to sample cognitive functioning every other day (28 times total). We will use linear mixed-effect regressions and single-level multiple regression models to analyze the data., Results: We anticipate a minimum of 124 breast cancer survivors enrolling and completing data collection. Study results will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals., Conclusions: Our findings will have broad implications for assessing CRCI in an ecologically valid and person-centered way using EMCT. We aim to provide this protocol to aid researchers who would like to apply this approach to their studies., Competing Interests: The authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: R.C.M. is a co-founder of KeyWise AI, Inc. and NeuroUX, Inc. The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by UC San Diego in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies. The remaining authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

Background: Inaccurate self-assessment of performance is common among people with serious mental illness, and it is associated with poor functional outcomes independent from ability. However, the temporal interdependencies between judgments of performance, confidence in accuracy, and feedback about performance are not well understood., Methods: We evaluated two tasks: the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Penn Emotion recognition task (ER40). These tasks were modified to include item-by-item confidence and accuracy judgments, along with feedback on accuracy. We evaluated these tasks as time series and applied network modeling to understand the temporal relationships between momentary confidence, accuracy judgments, and feedback. The sample constituted participants with schizophrenia (SZ; N = 144), bipolar disorder (BD; N = 140), and healthy controls (HC; N = 39)., Results: Network models for both WCST and ER40 revealed denser and lagged connections between confidence and accuracy judgments in SZ and, to a lesser extent in BD, that were not evidenced in HC. However, associations between feedback regarding accuracy with subsequent accuracy judgments and confidence were weaker in SZ and BD. In each of these comparisons, the BD group was intermediate between HC and SZ. In analyses of the WCST, wherein incorporating feedback is crucial for success, higher confidence predicted worse subsequent performance in SZ but not in HC or BD., Conclusions: While network models are exploratory, the results suggest some potential mechanisms by which challenges in self-assessment may impede performance, perhaps through hyperfocus on self-generated judgments at the expense of incorporation of feedback.

Age and gender differences in narcissism have been studied often. However, considering the rich history of narcissism research accompanied by its diverging conceptualizations, little is known about age and gender differences across various narcissism measures. The present study investigated age and gender differences and their interactions across eight widely used narcissism instruments (i.e., Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, Dirty Dozen, Psychological Entitlement Scale, Narcissistic Personality Disorder Symptoms from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , Version IV, Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire-Short Form, Single-Item Narcissism Scale, and brief version of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory). The findings of Study 1 (N = 5,736) revealed heterogeneity in how strongly the measures are correlated. Some instruments loaded clearly on one of the three factors proposed by previous research (i.e., Neuroticism, Extraversion, Antagonism), while others cross-loaded across factors and in distinct ways. Cross-sectional analyses using each measure and meta-analytic results across all measures (Study 2) with a total sample of 270,029 participants suggest consistent linear age effects (random effects meta-analytic effect of r = -.104), with narcissism being highest in young adulthood. Consistent gender differences also emerged (random effects meta-analytic effect was -.079), such that men scored higher in narcissism than women. Quadratic age effects and Age × Gender effects were generally very small and inconsistent. We conclude that despite the various conceptualizations of narcissism, age and gender differences are generalizable across the eight measures used in the present study. However, their size varied based on the instrument used. We discuss the sources of this heterogeneity and the potential mechanisms for age and gender differences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction: Many people with schizophrenia report low levels of negative affect (NA), which may reflect biases in emotion processing. In the general population there is an inverse correlation between positive affect (PA) and NA. It is possible that this relationship is different among people with schizophrenia. This study aims to understand the relationship between PA and NA among people with schizophrenia, and explore PA and NA variability in relationship to social context., Method: 105 participants with schizophrenia answered ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys seven times/day for seven days. They reported their experiences of mood states on a scale of one to seven: happiness, sadness, relaxation, and anxiety, as well as their social context (alone vs. with someone). Mood variability was calculated using the mean square of successive difference, and multilevel modeling was used to understand the time-course of reported moods within- and between-person., Results: 45% of surveys reported the absence of NA, though there was an inverse within-subjects correlation between PA and NA. Between-subjects, there was a large inverse correlation between PA and NA. Greater mood variability was associated with a greater number of social interactions., Discussion: The results of this study point to both the role of social context in mood variability, and momentary trends in mood experiences, with some individuals reporting no NA, some indicating both PA and NA, and some indicating a more normative affect pattern. Later research should address the possible impact of emotion perception bias and social interactions on moods states in schizophrenia., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Mood states have been reported to manifest a cross-sectional correlation with self-assessment accuracy across functional domains and psychiatric conditions. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) provides a strategy to examine the momentary course and correlates of mood states. This study tested the association of moods assessed longitudinally with accuracy of immediate self-assessments of cognitive test performance in participants with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder., Methods: 240 well-diagnosed participants with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder completed a subset of tests from the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery and an immediate self-assessment of cognitive performance. Differences between actual and self-reported performance were used to index the accuracy of self-assessment. Daily smartphone EMA, 3× per day for 30 days, sampled participants´ momentary moods (sad, happy, relaxed, anxious), aggregated into positive affect and negative affect (NA)., Results: Bipolar participants had better cognitive performance, but both samples had equivalent mis-estimation. Repeated-measures analyses found that NA did not manifest significant variability over time either between or within participants in the two diagnostic groups. Within-group analyses found that higher average NA was associated with greater mis-estimation and poorer cognitive performance in participants with bipolar disorder, but not in those with schizophrenia., Conclusion: Negative moods had a significant association with impairments in self-assessment of cognitive performance in participants with bipolar disorder. Our study did not confirm previous cross-sectional findings of more accurate self-assessment associated with greater NA in schizophrenia. These findings suggest that cross-sectional assessments, particularly self-reports, may lead to different results than aggregated data from longitudinal evaluations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Dr. Raeanne C. Moore is a co-founder of KeyWise AI, Inc. and a consultant for NeuroUX. Dr. Harvey has received consulting fees or travel reimbursements from Alkermes, Bio Excel, Boehringer Ingelheim, Minerva Pharma, Roche Pharma, and Sunovion Pharma. He receives royalties from the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia and the MATRICS Consensus Battery. He is chief scientific officer of iFunction, Inc. Dr. Pinkham has served as a consultant for Roche Pharma. The other authors have no potential Biomedical Conflicts of Interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Participants with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) have challenges in self-evaluation of their cognitive and functional abilities, referred to as introspective accuracy (IA). Although psychotic symptoms are commonly found to be uncorrelated with cognitive performance, many models of the development of delusions focus on failures in self-assessment and responses biases during momentary monitoring. We performed a single 4-test cognitive assessment on 240 participants (schizophrenia n = 126; bipolar disorder n = 114) and asked them to make a judgment about their performance immediately after completion of each task. We related performance and these judgments to results of Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA) of the momentary occurrence of psychotic symptoms (Voices, paranoid ideas, other delusions) collected over up to 90 surveys over a 30 days prior to the single cognitive assessment. We examined test performance and the accuracy of self-assessment at that assessment, looking at diagnostic differences in performance and mis-estimation of performance. Participants with bipolar disorder had better cognitive performance, but there were no differences in mis-estimation. Analyses of the correlation between cognitive performance and self-assessment were all significant and better cognitive performance predicted reduced errors in self-assessment. Examination of the 30-day course of psychotic symptoms and IA could only be performed in participants with schizophrenia, revealing correlations between more common occurrences of all three psychotic symptoms and increased absolute values for IA errors. These data are consistent with theories of cognitive response biases and the formation of delusions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Dr. Raeanne C. Moore is a co-founder of KeyWise AI, Inc. and a consultant for NeuroUX. Dr. Harvey has received consulting fees or travel reimbursements from Alkermes, Bio Excel, Boehringer Ingelheim, Minerva Pharma, and Sunovion Pharma. He receives royalties from the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia, which is owned by WCG-Verasci and is part of the MATRICS Consensus Battery. He is chief scientific officer of iFunction, Inc. Dr. Pinkham has served as a consultant for Roche Pharma. The other authors have no potential Biomedical Conflicts of Interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Previous weekly sampling studies found that persistent sad moods are associated with disability in bipolar illness. However, those data were collected retrospectively. We examined the momentary quality of activities (productive, unproductive, and passive recreation) in an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study and related sadness at each survey to quality of momentary activities and overall everyday functioning., Methods: Participants with bipolar illness ( N  = 91) were sampled three times per day for 30 days. Each survey queried participants as to where they were, with whom, what they were doing, and their mood state. Activities were characterised according to predetermined criteria and related to momentary sadness. Observer ratings of everyday functioning were related to daily reports of sadness and activities., Results: Sadness was associated with the quality of activities. Momentary reports of unproductive activities were associated with the most sadness ( p  < .001), followed by passive recreation, and productive activities. Momentary sadness and momentary unproductive activities correlated with observer ratings of competence in work, everyday activities, and social outcomes ( p  < .001). Using both predictors led to the best model., Conclusions: This study on the course of sad moods in people with bipolar illness to EMA found that momentary sadness correlatesdwith the quality of concurrent activities and that both sadness and the quality of everyday activities predicted observer ratings of everyday functioning. Although we cannot determine the causal direction, these findings support the hypothesis that momentary sadness leads to reductions in productive activities and impairments in everyday functioning.

Milestone achievements are reduced in people with schizophrenia and are lower in comparison to people with bipolar disorder. However, it is not clear what the implications are for engagement in momentary activities based on milestone achievements. Further, some recent research has suggested that psychotic symptoms are associated with challenges in self-assessment of activities, but there is less information about the correlations of milestone achievements and ongoing psychotic symptoms. We examined momentary activities and symptoms as a function of lifetime milestone achievement in 102 individuals with schizophrenia and 71 with bipolar disorder. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) was used to sample daily activities and concurrent symptoms 3 times per day for 30 days. Each survey asked the participant where they were, who they were with, and what they were doing, as well as sampling the concurrent presence of psychotic symptoms. Not being financially responsible for their residence was associated with engaging in fewer productive activities. Participants who never had a relationship were more commonly home and alone and engaged in fewer social interactions. A lifetime history of employment was correlated with engaging in more productive activities, including at home. More common momentary psychosis was seen in participants who failed to achieve each of the functional milestones. Lifetime milestone achievements were associated with greater frequencies of productive behaviors and with fewer momentary experiences of psychosis, suggesting that psychotic symptoms may have importance for sustaining disability that would be challenging to detect without momentary information.

It is critical to intervene early in the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage of the Alzheimer's disease trajectory, but traditional cognitive testing methods are costly, burdensome, and difficult to access. We examined adherence and validity data to a 30-day self-administered ecological momentary cognitive testing protocol among a sample of older adults with MCI and cognitively normal controls to evaluate feasibility, tolerability, and initial validity in comparison to standard neuropsychological tests. Participants included 48 participants with MCI (Mean age = 72 years, SD = 7 years) and 46 demographically-matched cognitively normal (NC) control participants (Mean age = 70 years, SD = 7 years). Participants completed traditional neuropsychological testing to determine MCI status, followed by 30 days of remote ecological momentary cognitive testing. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys were administered 3 times per day for 30 days (possible total = 90), and mobile cognitive tests were administered every other day (for a total of 15 administrations). Mobile cognitive tests included the Variable Difficulty List Memory Test (VLMT; measure of learning and memory), Memory Matrix (measure of visual working memory), and the Color Trick Test (measure of executive function). EMA and mobile cognitive test adherence, fatigue effects, mobile cognitive test performance and group differences, and psychometrics (reliability, convergent validity, ceiling effects, and practice effects) were examined. Overall mean-level adherence to the mobile cognitive tests was 85% and did not differ by MCI status. The reliability of stable between-person individual differences for the VLMT and Memory Matrix were very high. Moreover, although the reliability of within-person change for Memory Matrix was adequate, the corresponding reliability for VLMT was somewhat low. Averaged performance on the mobile cognitive tests was correlated with lab-based tests measuring the same construct. Participants with MCI performed worse than NCs on the VLMT and Color Trick Test, and there was no evidence of fatigue effects for these two tests. These findings support the feasibility and potential for ecological momentary cognitive testing to support clinical trials and for measuring cognitive changes over time in persons with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease such as those with MCI., Competing Interests: R.C.M. is a co-founder of KeyWise AI, Inc. and a consultant for NeuroUX. P.D.H. has received consulting fees or travel reimbursements from Alkermes, Bio Excel, Boehringer Ingelheim, Karuna Pharma, Merck Pharma, Minerva Pharma, and Sunovion (DSP) Pharma in the past year. He receives royalties from the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (Owned by WCG Verasci, Inc. and contained in the MCCB). He is Chief Scientific Officer of i-Function, Inc. and Scientific Consultant to EMA Wellness, Inc. No other authors report conflicts., (© 2022 Moore, Ackerman, Russell, Campbell, Depp, Harvey and Pinkham.)

Objectives: Schizophrenia participants generate self-reports of their competencies that differ from objective information. They may base their reports on momentary moods or experiences rather than objective data. Theories of delusion formation implicate overconfidence during self-assessment as a cause., Methods: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) was used to sample activities and experiences in 101 participants with schizophrenia up to 3 times a day for 30 days. Each survey asked where and with whom they were, what they were doing, and moods and psychotic symptoms they were experiencing. Self-reports and observer ratings of competence in work and everyday activities were collected., Results: Being home was associated with self-reports of better functioning in activities and work skills (p<.001) and being alone correlated with better self-reported functioning in activities (p<.001). Participants who reported more occurrences of hearing voices, paranoid ideation, and other psychotic symptoms reported their functioning as better (p<.001)., Implications: Schizophrenia was marked by a disconnect between momentary activities and self-assessments. Being home more was associated with better self-reported functioning on tasks that are only performed away from home. Psychotic  symptoms were associated with overestimation, consistent with previous theories positing that overconfidence and suspension of plausibility assessment may be associated with psychotic experiences., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) is a gold-standard tool for assessing cognitive functioning in individuals with severe mental illness. This study is an initial examination of the validity of remote administration of 4 MCCB tests measuring processing speed (Trail Making Test: Part A, Animal Fluency), working memory (Letter-Number Span), and verbal learning and memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised). We conducted analyses on individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SCZ), as well as healthy volunteers, who were assessed in-person (BD = 80, SCZ = 116, HV = 14) vs. remotely (BD = 93, SCZ = 43, HV = 30) to determine if there were significant differences in performance based on administration format. Additional analyses tested whether remote and in-person assessment performance was similarly correlated with symptom severity, cognitive and social cognitive performance, and functional outcomes. Individuals with BD performed significantly better than those with SCZ on all MCCB subtests across administration format. Animal Fluency did not differ by administration format, but remote participants performed significantly worse on Trail Making and HVLT-R. On the Letter-Number Span task, individuals with bipolar disorder performed significantly better when participating remotely. Finally, patterns of correlations with related constructs were largely similar between administration formats. Thus, results suggest that remote administration of some of the MCCB subtests may be a valid alternative to in-person testing, but more research is necessary to determine why some tasks were affected by administration format., Competing Interests: Dr. Harvey has received consulting fees or travel reimbursements from Alkermes, Bio Excel, Boehringer Ingelheim, Karuna Pharma, Minerva Pharma, SK Pharma, and Sunovion Pharma during the past year. He receives royalties from the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (Owned by Verasci, Inc. and contained in the MCCB). He is chief scientific officer of i-Function, Inc. Dr. Moore is a co-founder of KeyWise, Inc. and a consultant for NeuroUX. All other authors report no conflicts of interest., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Subclinical paranoia is associated with negative psychological and general health consequences including poorer social functioning. Despite extensive research on the outcomes of individuals with greater paranoia, the consequences of interacting with someone who is paranoid are less clear. As social functioning involves interactions between individuals, investigating associations between paranoia and relationship outcomes from a dyadic perspective may aid in elucidating the mechanisms underlying social dysfunction in subclinical paranoia. This study examined the trajectory of new roommate relationships over the course of the college semester. One hundred three same-sex roommate dyads were assessed on pathological personality traits at the beginning of the semester and on roommate relationship satisfaction and college adjustment at 2-week intervals. Individuals who were more paranoid reported lower satisfaction in their roommate relationship and poorer overall college adjustment. Importantly, individuals who lived with a more paranoid roommate also reported lower satisfaction in their roommate relationship. In contrast, elevated psychoticism, in either the individual or their roommate, was not associated with lower roommate relationship satisfaction. These findings demonstrate that the effects of subclinical paranoia extend beyond the paranoid individual to social partners as well. Further, poorer relationship satisfaction appears specifically related to paranoia and does not seem to be associated with increased psychoticism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Bi-directional differences in social communication and behavior can contribute to poor interactions between autistic and non-autistic (NA) people, which in turn may reduce social opportunities for autistic adults and contribute to poor outcomes. Historically, interventions to improve social interaction in autism have focused on altering the behaviors of autistic people and have ignored the role of NA people. Recent efforts to improve autism understanding among NA adults via training have resulted in more favorable views toward autistic people, yet it remains unknown whether these benefits extend to real-world interactions between autistic and NA people. The current study explores whether a brief autism acceptance training (AAT) program can improve social interactions between autistic and NA adults. Thirty-nine NA males were randomly assigned to complete AAT or a no-training control condition, then participated in a 5-min unstructured conversation with an unfamiliar autistic male ( n = 39). Following the conversation, participants rated their perceptions of interaction quality, first impressions of their partner, and their interest in future interactions with their partner. In dyads where the NA individual completed AAT, both the autistic and NA person endorsed greater future interest in hanging out with their partner relative to dyads in which the NA adult did not complete AAT. However, other social interaction outcomes, including ratings of interaction quality and first impressions of autistic partners, largely did not differ between training and no-training conditions, and assessments of the interaction were largely unrelated for autistic and NA partners within dyads. Results also indicated that NA participants, but not autistic participants, demonstrated substantial correspondence between evaluations of their partner and the interaction, suggesting that autistic adults may place less weight on trait judgments when assessing the quality of an interaction. These findings suggest that the brief AAT for NA adults used in this study may increase mutual social interest in real-world interactions between NA and autistic adults, but more systematic changes are likely needed to bridge divides between these individuals. Future work with larger, more diverse samples is recommended to further explore whether interventions targeting NA adults are beneficial for improving autistic experiences within NA social environments., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Jones, Morrison, DeBrabander, Ackerman, Pinkham and Sasson.)

People with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) have challenges in self-evaluation of their cognitive and functional performance (introspective accuracy). They also manifest response biases, with tendencies toward overestimation. This study aimed to examine objective test performance, momentary judgments of performance, momentary confidence, and subsequent global judgments of performance on a metacognitive version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). This sample included 99 participants with SCZ and 67 with BD. After each of the 64 WCST trials, participants reported whether they believed their sort was correct and how confident they were in that judgment, they then received performance feedback. After completion of the entire task, participants generated a global performance judgment. On average, the SCZ group got 31 sorts correct, reporting being correct on 49 whereas the BD group got 37 trials correct but reported being correct on 53. For participants with BD, sorting performance correlated with trial x trial accuracy judgments, confidence, and predicted global judgments. For SCZ participants, performance minimally correlated with trial x trial accuracy judgments, confidence, and global judgments, while trial x trial confidence was strongly associated with trial x trial accuracy judgments (r = 0.58). Our findings suggest that confidence in participants with BD is correlated with task performance, whereas in SCZ confidence was entirely associated with self-generated performance judgments. SCZ participants manifested challenges with utilization of feedback. Global judgments of performance were predicted by task performance and confidence for BD participants, with performance and confidence judgments occurring prior to generation of the global performance judgments., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An aspect of metacognition associated with broader functional abilities in several clinical conditions, but previously unexamined in autism, is self-assessment (i.e., the ability to accurately self-evaluate one's own performance). We compared self-assessment between 37 autistic adults without intellectual disability to 39 non-autistic (NA) controls on a series of three general cognitive and three social cognitive tasks. Whereas autistic adults and NA adults did not differ in their self-assessment accuracy on general cognitive tasks, they did on social cognitive tasks, with autistic adults demonstrating lower accuracy. The direction of their inaccuracy was variable (i.e., both over and underestimation), and self-assessment was largely unrelated to their level of social functioning. Over versus underestimation may have different functional implications, and warrants future investigation.

Objectives: People with schizophrenia have challenges in their self-assessments of everyday functioning and those who report no sadness also tend to overestimate their everyday functional abilities. While previous studies were cross-sectional, this study related longitudinal assessments of sadness to self-reports of abilities in domains of everyday functioning and cognitive abilities., Methods: 71 people with bipolar illness (BPI) were compared to 102 people with schizophrenia (SCZ). Participants were sampled 3 times per day for 30 days with a smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) survey. Each survey asked where they were, with whom they were, what they were doing, and if they were sad. Performance based assessments of executive functioning, social competence, and everyday activities were collected after the EMA period, at which time the participants and observers were asked to provide ratings of three different domains of everyday functioning and neurocognitive ability., Results: 18% of participants with SCZ reported that they were never sad on any one of the 90 EMA surveys. Reports of never being sad were associated with overestimated functioning compared to observers and SCZ participants who reported that they were never sad were more commonly home and alone than both SCZ participants who reported occasional sadness and participants with BPI. These participants reported being significantly happier than all people in the study., Implications: Reporting that you were never sad was associated with overestimation of everyday functioning and cognitive abilities. Although participants who were never sad did not perform more poorly on objective measures than those were occasionally sad, their self-assessed functioning was significantly elevated. These data suggest that negative symptoms constructs such as reduced emotional experience need to consider reduced ability to subjectively evaluate emotional experience as a feature of negative symptoms., Competing Interests: Dr. Raeanne C. Moore is a co-founder of KeyWise AI, Inc. and a consultant for NeuroUX. Dr. Harvey has received consulting fees or travel reimbursements from Alkermes, Bio Excel, Boehringer Ingelheim, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Minerva Pharma, Otsuka America, Regeneron, Roche Pharma, and Sunovion Pharma. He receives royalties from the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia and the MATRICS Consensus Battery. He has a research grant from Takeda and from the Stanley Medical Research Foundation. He is chief scientific officer of iFunction, Inc. Dr. Pinkham has served as a consultant for Roche Pharma. The other authors have no potential Biomedical Conflicts of Interest., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Objectives: People with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar illness (BPI) generate self-reports of their functioning that diverge from objective information. It has been suggested that these participants do not base such reports on daily experiences, relying on other information. We used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to sample socially relevant daily activities in SCZ and BPI and related them to self-reported and observer-rated social functioning and social cognitive ability., Methods: 71 people with (BPI) were compared to 102 people with SCZ. Participants were sampled 3 times per day for 30 days with a smartphone-based survey. Each survey asked where they were, with whom they were, what they were doing, and if they were sad. Participants and observers were asked to provide ratings on social functioning and social cognitive abilities at the end of the EMA period., Results: There was no association between being home or alone and self-reports of everyday social functioning. In contrast observer ratings were highly correlated with the momentary survey results. Reports of very low levels of sadness were associated with overestimated functioning and participants who were commonly home and alone rated their social functioning as better than participants who were commonly away in the presence of others., Implications: Both SCZ and BPI were marked by a disconnect between momentary experiences and self-reports. The largest effect was overestimation of functioning by participants who reported no sadness. Experience appears important, as participants who were routinely home and alone reported better social functioning than participants who spent more time others., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest In the last year, Dr. Durand has received consulting fees or travel reimbursements from Otsuka/Lundbeck Italy and Spain. Dr. Strassnig has served as a consultant to Signant Health. Dr. Raeanne C. Moore is a co-founder of KeyWise AI, Inc. and a consultant for NeuroUX. Dr. Harvey has received consulting fees or travel reimbursements from Alkermes, Bio Excel, Boehringer Ingelheim, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Minerva Pharma, Otsuka America, Regeneron, Roche Pharma, and Sunovion Pharma. He receives royalties from the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia and the MATRICS Consensus Battery. He has a research grant from Takeda and from the Stanley Medical Research Foundation. He is chief scientific officer of iFunction, Inc. Dr. Pinkham has served as a consultant for Roche Pharma. The other authors have no potential Biomedical Conflicts of Interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Individuals with severe mental illnesses (SMIs) may be disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and psychological distress. This study investigated the prevalence of engagement in COVID-19 preventative behaviors, predictors of these behaviors, and COVID-19-related psychological distress. One hundred and sixty-three individuals with SMIs (94 with schizophrenia spectrum illnesses and 69 with affective disorders) and 27 psychiatrically healthy comparison participants were recruited from ongoing studies across 3 sites, to complete a phone survey querying implementation of 8 specific COVID-19 preventative behaviors that participants engaged in at least once in the past month as well as standard assessments of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, loneliness, and coping. Data were collected between 3 April 2020 and 4 June 2020. The large majority of our SMI sample, which consisted of outpatients with relatively mild symptom severity, endorsed engaging in multiple preventative behaviors. Relatively few differences were found between groups; however, individuals with SMI were less likely to work remotely than healthy individuals and individuals with schizophrenia spectrum illness were less likely to stay home as a preventative measure, wear face masks, and work remotely than individuals with affective disorders. Differences in staying home remained after controlling for potential confounds. Although individuals with SMI reported more psychological distress related to COVID-19, this distress was largely unrelated to engagement in preventative behaviors. The large majority of individuals with SMI in this outpatient sample, regardless of broad diagnostic category, reported performing multiple behaviors intended to prevent COVID-19 infection at least once a month and reported distress associated with the pandemic. These findings suggest a good level of awareness of COVID-19 among stable outpatients with SMI. The degree to which more acutely ill persons with SMI engage in such preventative behaviors, however, remains to be examined.

People are generally poor reporters of time spent using digital technology. Advancing smartphone features, such as the iOS Screen Time application, allow researchers to obtain more objective measurements of digital technology use. Truth and Bias models were used to test how self-reported social networking site use aligns with device-reported use as recorded by the iOS Screen Time app ( N =1585). This study explored use across four major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat) and examined how individual differences moderate biases in reports. Participants overestimated their use for all platforms at comparable levels. Moderation by individual differences was not consistent. These findings add to the growing call from researchers to utilize assessments other than self-reports in measuring digital technology use., Competing Interests: Declaration of Interest Statement No conflicts of interest to disclose

Objective: Individuals with severe mental illnesses (SMI), including schizophrenia spectrum illnesses and affective disorders, may be at increased risk for negative mental health outcomes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study compared the severity of pre-pandemic symptoms and affective experiences to current symptoms to evaluate this possibility., Methods: 148 individuals with SMI (92 with schizophrenia spectrum illnesses and 56 with affective disorders) were recruited from ongoing ecological momentary assessment studies that sampled day-to-day experiences and symptom severity prior to the pandemic. Participants completed a one-time phone survey that queried these same experiences/symptoms between April and June of 2020., Results: Severity of affective experiences and psychotic symptoms remained stable across time, as did sleep duration. Well-being and the number of substances used increased during the early months of the pandemic. Increases in well-being were associated with being female and spending less time alone pre-pandemic. Patterns of stability/change did not differ according to diagnostic category., Conclusions: At this relatively early stage, individuals with SMI are not reporting a worsening of symptoms or affective experiences and instead appear to be resilient in the face of the pandemic. Continued assessment is needed to determine whether this resilience will persist as the pandemic progresses., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Social cognition, social skill, and social motivation have been extensively researched and characterized as atypical in autistic people, with the assumption that each mechanistically contributes to the broader social interaction difficulties that diagnostically define the condition. Despite this assumption, research has not directly assessed whether or how these three social domains contribute to actual real-world social interaction outcomes for autistic people. The current study administered standardized measures of social cognition, social skill, and social motivation to 67 autistic and 58 non-autistic (NA) adults and assessed whether performance on these measures, both individually and relationally between dyadic partners, predicted outcomes for autistic and NA adults interacting with unfamiliar autistic and NA partners in a 5 minute unstructured "get to know you" conversation. Consistent with previous research, autistic adults scored lower than NA adults on the three social domains and were evaluated less favorably by their conversation partners. However, links between autistic adults' performance on the three social domains and their social interaction outcomes were minimal and, contrary to prediction, only the social abilities of NA adults predicted some interaction outcomes within mixed diagnostic dyads. Collectively, results suggest that reduced performance by autistic adults on standardized measures of social cognition, social skill, and social motivation do not correspond in clear and predictable ways with their real-world social interaction outcomes. They also highlight the need for the development and validation of more ecological assessments of autistic social abilities and the consideration of relational dynamics, not just individual characteristics, when assessing social disability in autism., (Copyright © 2020 Morrison, DeBrabander, Jones, Ackerman and Sasson.)

Differences in social communication and interaction styles between autistic and typically developing have been studied in isolation and not in the context of real-world social interaction. The current study addresses this "blind spot" by examining whether real-world social interaction quality for autistic adults differs when interacting with typically developing relative to autistic partners. Participants (67 autism spectrum disorder, 58 typically developing) were assigned to one of three dyadic partnerships (autism-autism: n  = 22; typically developing-typically developing: n  = 23; autism-typically developing: n  = 25; 55 complete dyads, 15 partial dyads) in which they completed a 5-min unstructured conversation with an unfamiliar person and then assessed the quality of the interaction and their impressions of their partner. Although autistic adults were rated as more awkward, less attractive, and less socially warm than typically developing adults by both typically developing and autistic partners, only typically developing adults expressed greater interest in future interactions with typically developing relative to autistic partners. In contrast, autistic participants trended toward an interaction preference for other autistic adults and reported disclosing more about themselves to autistic compared to typically developing partners. These results suggest that social affiliation may increase for autistic adults when partnered with other autistic people, and support reframing social interaction difficulties in autism as a relational rather than an individual impairment.

What basic personality traits characterize the psychologically healthy individual? The purpose of this article was to address this question by generating an expert-consensus model of the healthy person in the context of the 30 facets (and 5 domains) of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) system of traits. In a first set of studies, we found that the healthy personality can be described, with a high level of agreement, in terms of the 30 facets of the NEO-PI-R. High levels of openness to feelings, positive emotions, and straightforwardness, together with low levels on facets of neuroticism, were particularly indicative of healthy personality functioning. The expert-generated healthy personality profile was negatively correlated with profiles of pathological personality functioning and positively correlated with normative personality functioning. In a second set of studies, we matched the NEO-PI-R profiles of over 3,000 individuals from 7 different samples with the expert-generated healthy prototype to yield a healthy personality index. This index was characterized by good retest reliability and cross-rater agreement, high rank-order stability, and substantial heritability. Individuals with high scores on the healthy personality index were psychologically well-adjusted, had high self-esteem, good self-regulatory skills, an optimistic outlook on the world, and a clear and stable self-view. These individuals were low in aggression and meanness, unlikely to exploit others, and were relatively immune to stress and self-sufficient. We discuss the results in the light of their implications for both research and theory on healthy personality functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Across two studies, the current research investigated how different dimensions of narcissism (grandiosity/agentic extraversion, entitlement/self-centered antagonism, vulnerability/narcissistic neuroticism) relate to social networking site (SNS) use and behaviors. Study 1 employed a community sample of young adults, whereas Study 2 examined college students. Participants completed assessments of narcissism and SNS use through an online survey. Grandiosity/agentic extraversion was generally associated with greater levels of downward social comparison relative to the other two dimensions. Entitlement/self-centered antagonism generally showed weak correlations with SNS outcomes. Vulnerability/narcissistic neuroticism was generally associated with greater upward social comparison and perceived social exclusion relative to the other two dimensions. Results suggest that SNS experiences may vary depending on the dimensions of narcissism.

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is critical to host-pathogen interactions. Class II MHC is a heterodimer, with α and β subunits encoded by different genes. The peptide-binding groove is formed by the first domain of both subunits (α 1 and β 1 ), but studies of class II variation or natural selection focus primarily on the β subunit and II B genes. We explored MHC II A in Leach's storm-petrel, a seabird with two expressed, polymorphic II B genes. We found two II A genes, Ocle-DAA and Ocle-DBA, in contrast to the single II A gene in chicken and duck. In exon 2 which encodes the α 1 domain, the storm-petrel II A genes differed strongly from each other but showed little within-gene polymorphism in 30 individuals: just one Ocle-DAA allele, and three Ocle-DBA alleles differing from each other by single non-synonymous substitutions. In a comparable sample, the two II B genes had nine markedly diverged alleles each. Differences between the α 1 domains of Ocle-DAA and Ocle-DBA showed signatures of positive selection, but mainly at non-peptide-binding site (PBS) positions. In contrast, positive selection within and between the II B genes corresponded to putative PBS codons. Phylogenetic analysis of the conserved α 2 domain did not reveal deep or well-supported lineages of II A genes in birds, in contrast to the pronounced differentiation of DQA, DPA, and DRA isotypes in mammals. This uncertain homology complicates efforts to compare levels of functional variation and modes of evolution of II A genes across taxa.

This research explored whether experiences with warmth in middle childhood are linked to increased levels of positive affect, decreased levels of negative affect, and decreased levels of disagreeable interactions in text-message communication in adolescence. Participants included 218 children (and their parents and peers) who were on average 10.04-years-old ( SD = 0.43) in the 4th grade. In addition to being observed interacting with their parents and friends in the 4th thru 7th grade, participants were provided with BlackBerries configured to capture all incoming and outgoing text-message communication at the end of the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. Results suggest that observed expressions of warmth are primarily relationship-specific. Further, greater exchanges of warmth within the parent-child and friend-child relationships predicted lower levels of negative affect and duplicity within digital communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Purpose of Review: Definitions of narcissism have traditionally differed across psychiatry and subfields of psychology. This review aims to highlight emerging points of consensus and suggest further directions needed to obtain a more comprehensive and cohesive conceptualization of the construct., Recent Findings: An emerging consensus is that stable individual differences in the phenotypic expression of narcissism are best captured with a taxonomy that includes the core traits of entitlement, grandiosity, and vulnerability. Recent work has also begun to conceptualize and assess narcissistic states matched with these dimensions. We combine emerging taxonomic knowledge with principles from Whole Trait Theory to propose a multilevel conceptualization of narcissism that focuses on its manifestation at the trait level, state level, and within-situation level., Summary: Efforts to understand the phenotypic structure of the core traits associated with narcissism have been successful. As the field moves forward, it will become critical for researchers studying narcissism at multiple levels to align and integrate these perspectives so that a more comprehensive and cohesive conceptualization of the construct can be developed.

The relationship between children's slow vocabulary growth and the family's low socioeconomic status (SES) has been well documented. However, previous studies have often focused on infants or preschoolers and primarily used static measures of vocabulary at multiple time points. To date, there is no research investigating whether SES predicts a child's word learning abilities in grade school and, if so, what mediates this relationship. In this study, 68 children aged 8-15 years performed a written word learning from context task that required using the surrounding text to identify the meaning of an unknown word. Results revealed that vocabulary knowledge significantly mediated the relationship between SES (as measured by maternal education) and word learning. This was true despite the fact that the words in the linguistic context surrounding the target word are typically acquired well before 8 years of age. When controlling for vocabulary, word learning from written context was not predicted by differences in reading comprehension, decoding, or working memory. These findings reveal that differences in vocabulary growth between grade school children from low and higher SES homes are likely related to differences in the process of word learning more than knowledge of surrounding words or reading skills. Specifically, children from lower SES homes are not as effective at using known vocabulary to build a robust semantic representation of incoming text to identify the meaning of an unknown word., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Due to increased empirical interest in narcissism across the social sciences, there is a need for inventories that can be administered quickly while also reliably measuring both the agentic and antagonistic aspects of grandiose narcissism. In this study, we sought to validate the factor structure, provide representative descriptive data and reliability estimates, assess the reliability across the trait spectrum, and examine the nomological network of the short version of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ-S; Back et al., 2013). We used data from a large convenience sample (total N = 11,937) as well as data from a large representative sample (total N = 4,433) that included responses to other narcissism measures as well as related constructs, including the other Dark Triad traits, Big Five personality traits, and self-esteem. Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory were used to validate the factor structure and estimate the reliability across the latent trait spectrum, respectively. Results suggest that the NARQ-S shows a robust factor structure and is a reliable and valid short measure of the agentic and antagonistic aspects of grandiose narcissism. We also discuss future directions and applications of the NARQ-S as a short and comprehensive measure of grandiose narcissism. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

There is debate over the definition of narcissism across social/personality and clinical psychology. The current article aims to quantify the level of disagreement by measuring experts' opinions concerning the attributes most central to narcissism. Accordingly, we developed a comprehensive list of attributes associated with narcissism and had 49 self-identified experts (among them 17 women, 23 psychologists from clinical psychology and 22 from social/personality psychology) rate these characteristics and provide their opinions on several issues related to the conceptualization of narcissism. Experts generally believe that the grandiose features of narcissism are more central than the vulnerable features. However, differences between clinical and social/personality psychologists were evident, especially regarding the relevance of self-esteem. Given the results, we suggest that researchers specify the kind of narcissism being assessed in a given study and consider using assessments of the full range of narcissistic features in future research to provide a more comprehensive perspective on the construct.

This research examined adolescents' written text messages with sexual content to investigate how sexting relates to sexual activity and borderline personality features. Participants (N = 181, 85 girls) completed a measure of borderline personality features prior to 10 th grade and were subsequently given smartphones configured to capture the content of their text messages. Four days of text messaging were micro-coded for content related to sex. Following 12 th grade, participants reported on their sexual activity and again completed a measure of borderline personality features. Results showed that engaging in sexting at age 16 was associated with reporting an early sexual debut, having sexual intercourse experience, having multiple sex partners, and engaging in drug use in combination with sexual activity two years later. Girls engaging in sex talk were more likely to have had sexual intercourse by age 18. Text messaging about hypothetical sex in grade 10 also predicted borderline personality features at age 18. These findings suggest that sending text messages with sexual content poses risks for adolescents. Programs to prevent risky sexual activity and to promote psychological health could be enhanced by teaching adolescents to use digital communication responsibly.

Finkel, Rusbult, Kumashiro, and Hannon (2002, Study 1) demonstrated a causal link between subjective commitment to a relationship and how people responded to hypothetical betrayals of that relationship. Participants primed to think about their commitment to their partner (high commitment) reacted to the betrayals with reduced exit and neglect responses relative to those primed to think about their independence from their partner (low commitment). The priming manipulation did not affect constructive voice and loyalty responses. Although other studies have demonstrated a correlation between subjective commitment and responses to betrayal, this study provides the only experimental evidence that inducing changes to subjective commitment can causally affect forgiveness responses. This Registered Replication Report (RRR) meta-analytically combines the results of 16 new direct replications of the original study, all of which followed a standardized, vetted, and preregistered protocol. The results showed little effect of the priming manipulation on the forgiveness outcome measures, but it also did not observe an effect of priming on subjective commitment, so the manipulation did not work as it had in the original study. We discuss possible explanations for the discrepancy between the findings from this RRR and the original study., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

Although previous studies have reported that the broad autism phenotype is associated with reduced relationship quality within established relationships, understanding how this association emerges requires assessment prior to relationship development. In the present longitudinal study, college roommates with minimal familiarity prior to cohabitation (N = 162) completed the broad autism phenotype questionnaire and intermittently reported on their relationship quality and interpersonal behaviors toward their roommate over their first 10 weeks of living together. Actor-Partner Interdependence Models demonstrated that roommates mismatched on aloofness (one high and one low) had lower relationship satisfaction than those matched on it, with the interpersonal behavior of warmth mediating this association. Because relationship satisfaction remained high when both roommates were aloof, satisfaction does not appear predicated upon the presence of aloofness generally but rather reflects a product of dissimilarity in aloof profiles between roommates. In contrast, although participants reported less relationship satisfaction and commitment with roommates higher on pragmatic language abnormalities, mismatches on this broad autism phenotype trait, and on rigid personality, were less consequential. In sum, these findings suggest that complementary profiles of social motivation may facilitate relationship quality during the early course of relationship development., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is currently the most widely used measure of narcissism in social/personality psychology. It is also relatively unique because it uses a forced-choice response format. We investigate the consequences of changing the NPI's response format for item meaning and factor structure. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 40 forced-choice items (n = 2,754), 80 single-stimulus dichotomous items (i.e., separate true/false responses for each item; n = 2,275), or 80 single-stimulus rating scale items (i.e., 5-point Likert-type response scales for each item; n = 2,156). Analyses suggested that the "narcissistic" and "nonnarcissistic" response options from the Entitlement and Superiority subscales refer to independent personality dimensions rather than high and low levels of the same attribute. In addition, factor analyses revealed that although the Leadership dimension was evident across formats, dimensions with entitlement and superiority were not as robust. Implications for continued use of the NPI are discussed., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Although the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) is the most widely used measure of global self-esteem in the literature, there are ongoing disagreements about its factor structure. This methodological debate informs how the measure should be used in substantive research. Using a sample of 1,127 college students, we test the overall fit of previously specified models for the RSES, including a newly proposed bifactor solution (McKay, Boduszek, & Harvey, 2014 ). We extend previous work by evaluating how various latent factors from these structural models are related to a set of criterion variables frequently studied in the self-esteem literature. A strict unidimensional model poorly fit the data, whereas models that accounted for correlations between negatively and positively keyed items tended to fit better. However, global factors from viable structural models had similar levels of association with criterion variables and with the pattern of results obtained with a composite global self-esteem variable calculated from observed scores. Thus, we did not find compelling evidence that different structural models had substantive implications, thereby reducing (but not eliminating) concerns about the integrity of the self-esteem literature based on overall composite scores for the RSES.

This study examined whether adolescents communicate about antisocial topics and behaviors via text messaging and how adolescents' antisocial text message communication relates to growth in rule-breaking and aggression as reported by youth, parents, and teachers. Participants (n = 172; 82 girls) received BlackBerry devices configured to capture all text messages sent and received. Four days of text messages during the 9th grade year were coded for discussion of antisocial activities. The majority of participants engaged in at least some antisocial text message communication. Text messaging about antisocial activities significantly predicted increases in parent, teacher, and self-reports of adolescents' rule-breaking behavior, as well as teacher and self-reports of adolescents' aggressive behavior. Text message communication may provide instrumental information about how to engage in antisocial behavior and reinforce these behaviors as normative within the peer group.

In this research, we evaluated how well overall levels of positive engagement in adolescents' families of origin, as well as adolescents' unique expressions of positive engagement in observed family interactions, statistically predicted marital outcomes approximately 20 years later. The sample consisted of 288 focal individuals and their spouses, drawn from the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP). Data for focal individuals' family-of-origin positive engagement were taken from IYFP assessments from 1989 to 1991. Data for outcomes of interest, including focal individuals' and spouses' marital behavior, were drawn from the IYFP between 2007 and 2008. Individuals' unique expressions of positive engagement in their families of origin were linked to the degree of positive engagement these adolescents later exhibited toward their spouses. A positive family climate during adolescence for one marital partner was also associated with positive marital outcomes for both partners. Overall, our results suggest that the climate in one's family of origin may have long-term significance for one's interpersonal relationships.

Although controversy surrounds the definition and measurement of narcissism, the claim that pathological grandiosity is central to the construct generates little disagreement. Yet representations of pathological grandiosity vary across measures of narcissism, leading to conceptual confusion in the literature. The validity of a DSM-based measure of pathological narcissism, the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 Narcissistic Personality Disorder scale (PDQ-4 NPD), was evaluated in 1 clinical and 3 nonclinical samples (total N=2,391) for its ability to measure pathological grandiosity. Findings were generally supportive: average scores were higher in the clinical than nonclinical samples and the PDQ-4 NPD scale correlated most strongly with (a) other measures of NPD; (b) other DSM Cluster B personality disorders; (c) traits involving antagonism, hostility, and assertiveness; and (d) interpersonal distress and disaffiliative dominance. However, the low internal consistency of the PDQ-4 NPD scale and unexpected associations with Cluster A and obsessive-compulsive features point to potential psychometric weaknesses with this instrument. These findings are useful for evaluating the PDQ-4 NPD scale and for informing ongoing debates regarding how to define and assess pathological narcissism.

This research uses item response theory methods to evaluate the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988). Analyses using the 2-parameter logistic model were conducted on the total score and the Corry, Merritt, Mrug, and Pamp (2008) and Ackerman et al. (2011) subscales for the NPI. In addition to offering precise information about the psychometric properties of the NPI item pool, these analyses generated insights that can be used to develop new measures of the personality constructs embedded within this frequently used inventory.

The present study investigates the nature of positive engagement (an interpersonal style characterized by attentiveness, warmth, cooperation, and clear communication) in family interactions involving at least one adolescent. Approximately 400 families (mothers, fathers, and two siblings) were videotaped during brief conflict-resolution discussions that occurred on a yearly basis for 3 years. Coders rated the degree to which each family member was positively engaged with every other family member during the interactions. The social relations model was used to partition variation in positive-engagement behavior into family-level, individual-level, and dyad-level effects. Results demonstrated the importance of family norms and individual factors in determining the expression of positive-engagement behaviors in dyadic family relationships. Moreover, longitudinal analyses indicated that these effects are stable over a 3-year period. Finally, results highlighted the relative distinctiveness of the marital and sibling relationships, as well as the existence of reciprocity within these dyads.