Biomedical subjects

Peter Muris

Publications and source records attributed to Peter Muris.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Cognitive development and the interpretation of anxiety-related physical symptoms in 4-13-year-old non-clinical children.

The present study examined developmental patterns in children's interpretation of anxiety-related physical symptoms and emotional reasoning (i.e., the tendency to infer danger on the basis of physical response information). A sample of 171 children aged between 4 and 13 years were interviewed after listening to a number of vignettes in which the presence and absence of physical symptoms was systematically varied. Results revealed the expected developmental pattern for anxiety-related interpretations of physical symptoms. More precisely, from age 7, children were increasingly capable of linking physical symptoms to the emotion of anxiety. Furthermore, support was obtained for an emotional reasoning effect. That is, children rated vignettes with physical symptoms as more dangerous than vignettes without such symptoms. While the emotional reasoning effect was present in children of all ages, this phenomenon was more salient among older children. Finally, cognitive development as measured by Piagetian conservation tasks appeared to influence children's anxiety-related interpretations of physical symptoms and emotional reasoning. Altogether, these findings are relevant for researchers who are interested in "physical symptoms-based" theories of childhood anxiety.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

The modified Trait and State Food-Cravings Questionnaires: development and validation of a general index of food craving.

In the present study, the multidimensional Trait and State Food Cravings Questionnaires (FCQ-T and FCQ-S), as developed by Cepeda-Benito, Gleaves, Williams, and Erath, [2000. The development and validation of the State and Trait Food Cravings Questionnaires. Behavior Therapy, 31, 151-173], were modified in order to construct an index of general food craving instead of specific food craving. The factor structure, validity and reliability of the modified questionnaires, renamed as the Trait and State General Food Cravings Questionnaires (G-FCQ-T and G-FCQ-S), were investigated in three separate studies. Firstly, exploratory factor analyses were conducted, which yielded a G-FCQ-T with a four-factor structure, that was considerably shorter as compared to the original (nine-factor) FCQ-T, and a G-FCQ-S of which the factor structure was highly comparable to the original FCQ-S. Secondly, in an attempt to replicate the factor structures of the G-FCQ-T and the G-FCQ-S as found in Study 1, confirmative factor analyses were performed. Results indicated adequate fits for both questionnaires. In addition, the test-retest reliability of both versions was satisfactory and an analysis of the construct validity generally revealed the expected results. In Study 3, the validity of the state version of the G-FCQ was further investigated by relating scores on this questionnaire to indices of food deprivation and satiation. Results indicated that the G-FCQ-S indeed measures food craving as a variable state, which is influenced by situational and temporal variables. Altogether, it can be concluded that the G-FCQ-T and G-FCQ-S are both reliable and valid measures of general trait-like and state-dependent food craving.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Attention control in middle childhood: relations to psychopathological symptoms and threat perception distortions.

The present study examined the construct of attention control, which is an important aspect of effortful control, in a sample of non-clinical children aged between 9 and 13 years. Results demonstrated that attention control was associated with a broad range of psychopathological complaints, including symptoms of anxiety, aggression, depression, and ADHD. As predicted, lower levels of attention control were accompanied by higher levels of these symptoms. Further, attention control was also negatively related to threat perception distortions, which indicates that children who display low levels of this regulative temperament factor are more prone to such cognitive biases. Third, when controlling for neuroticism, attention control remained significantly (negatively) associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression (child report only), and ADHD. The correlations between attention control and threat perception distortions largely disappeared when the influence of neuroticism was partialled out. Only the link between attention control and anxious interpretations of ambiguous vignettes survived this correction. Finally, no evidence was found for the hypothesised mediating role of cognitive distortions on the relation between temperament factors and psychopathological symptoms.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

The assessment of anhedonia in clinical and non-clinical populations: further validation of the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS).

BACKGROUND: Anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure, is a major endophenotype of depression. In addition to this, it is an important clinical feature of schizophrenia and substance abuse disorders. Valid instruments to measure anhedonia are sparse. METHODS: In the present study, a short, 14-item instrument, the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) to measure anhedonia in normal and clinical samples was further validated. Various aspects of the reliability and validity of the SHAPS that have not been addressed before, were examined in three separate studies. First, we assessed the internal consistency, convergent and discriminative validity of the SHAPS in a non-clinical sample. Second, the test-retest reliability of the SHAPS was investigated in another sample. In the third study, the internal consistency, convergent and discriminative validity of the SHAPS was tested by administering the scale in three clinical samples of psychiatric inpatients. RESULTS: The SHAPS was found to be highly reliable in terms of internal consistency and test-retest stability. Further, the SHAPS correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with other measures of affect and personality. Patients with a depression, psychosis or substance dependence scored significantly higher on the SHAPS than non-patient controls. Patients with a depression displayed the highest SHAPS-score. LIMITATIONS: The absence of structured assessment data to validate the clinical diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: The current study shows that the SHAPS is a reliable and valid questionnaire to assess hedonic tone in patient and non-patient populations. Because it is a brief scale it seems to be a very useful instrument for measuring anhedonia in clinical and research settings.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Treatment of children's nighttime fears: the need for a modern randomised controlled trial.

Children's nighttime fears are common and cause significant interference to the child's functioning as well as causing much distress for the child and family. Therefore, effective and cost-efficient interventions are urgently needed by mental health professionals and counsellors. The authors review 29 studies, which investigated the efficacy of psychosocial treatment for children's nighttime fears. Most studies employed multiple baseline across subject designs or between group designs and most employed cognitive-behavioral techniques (i.e., desensitisation, emotive imagery, cognitive self-instruction, and reinforcement procedures). Although multi-method, informant assessments were not always conducted, in most studies rapid reduction of nighttime fears was typically achieved after only a few sessions with maintenance of gains. On the basis of our review, we make recommendations about assessment and intervention issues for the effective treatment of children's nighttime fears. Finally, future research directions are discussed including the need for a modern randomised clinical trial to more fully investigate treatment efficacy and the role of non-specific treatment factors.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Abnormal and normal obsessions: a reconsideration.

Contemporary cognitive approaches to obsession assume that the content of clinical obsessions does not differ from non-clinical obsessive intrusions. This assumption goes back to a classic study by Rachman and De Silva [(1978). Abnormal and normal obsessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 16, 233-248]. In the present paper, it is argued that Rachman and De Silva did not postulate a complete indifference between clinical and non-clinical obsessions. Study 1 is a simple statistical analysis of data presented by Rachman and De Silva. This analysis suggested that psychologists are able to discriminate clinical and non-clinical obsessions beyond chance level, merely by looking at the content of obsessions. In study 2, a list of 23 clinical and 47 non-clinical obsessions was presented to 11 psychotherapists and 90 psychology undergraduates. Both therapists and students were able to distinguish clinical and non-clinical obsession beyond chance level. It is concluded that some clinical obsessions can be identified as being evidently abnormal, and that additional theory and research is needed to identify the causes of these recognisable obsessions.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗

PubMed2006

On the measurement of rumination: a psychometric evaluation of the ruminative response scale and the rumination on sadness scale in undergraduates.

Rumination is considered a specific cognitive vulnerability factor that is thought to play a prominent role in the maintenance of depressive symptoms. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of two measures of rumination, the ruminative response scale (RRS) and the rumination on sadness scale (RSS) in undergraduates (N=331). A joint factor analysis yielded three factors, 'rumination on causes of sadness', 'symptom-based rumination', and 'rumination on sadness'. The internal consistency of the rumination factors was good and the test-retest stability over a 6-month period of time was moderate. Support was also found for the construct validity of the rumination factors. Finally, the 'rumination on the causes of sadness' factor was found to moderate the relation between depression measured at baseline and at 6-month follow-up. More specifically, baseline depression was a strong predictor of future depression but this was particularly true for high ruminating individuals. Implications of the results and directions for future research are provided.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Social and family correlates of eating problems and muscle preoccupation in young adolescents.

This study examined the unique contribution of a number of social and familial factors to body change strategies and eating problems in youths. A sample of non-clinical adolescents aged 10 to 16 years (N=405) completed a modified version of the Children's Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT) and questionnaires for measuring various social and familial factors that may play a role in the etiology of eating problems and muscle preoccupation. Regression analyses indicated that specific eating disorder-related factors (such as the encouragement of peers and parents to lose weight or to become more muscular) and more general factors (such as negative parental rearing behaviors and insecure attachment) made independent contributions to problem eating and muscle preoccupation in youths.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Underlying personality characteristics of behavioral inhibition in children.

Behavioral inhibition refers to the tendency of children to be unusually shy and to react with fear and withdrawal in situations that are novel and/or unfamiliar, and is generally regarded as a vulnerability factor for developing anxiety disorders. The present study investigated the hypothesis that behavioral inhibition is characterized by a specific constellation of two underlying personality characteristics, namely high levels of neuroticism and low levels of effortful control. For this purpose, 71 children completed measures of behavioral inhibition, neuroticism, attention control (which is a key element of effortful control), and insecure attachment. Results showed that children high on behavioral inhibition were indeed characterized by higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of attention control. However, this pattern of personality characteristics was not specific for behavioral inhibition. That is, insecurely attached children were also characterized by high neuroticism and low attention control. The implications of these findings are briefly discussed.

Child↗

PubMed2006

Relation of attention control and school performance in normal children.

This study examined the relation of attention control and school performance in a sample of 113 school children (51 boys, 62 girls), ages 9 to 12 years (M = 10.86, SD = 0.91). Children and parents completed the Attention Control Scale for Children, which measures children's ability to focus and shift attention, and also a scale for assessing symptoms of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Teachers provided a global rating of children's school performance. Analysis indicated that attention control correlated positively with school performance.

Achievement↗

PubMed2005

Are nonpharmacological induced rewards related to anhedonia? A study among skydivers.

It is well-known that persons with a drug addiction experience feelings of anhedonia during "normal" daily activities. It has been proposed that these symptoms of anhedonia are the result of direct pharmacological influences of drugs on the dopamine system. To test the assumption that nonpharmacological processes are also involved in anhedonia, we studied anhedonic symptoms in skydivers who regularly expose themselves to thrillful extreme sport activity and then experience intense hedonic feelings. A group of skydivers completed anhedonia scales and their scores were compared to a control group (a group of rowers). The main finding of the present study was that subjects who engage in the high-risk activity of skydiving, experienced more anhedonic symptoms than subjects who do not engage in such an extreme sport, but rather prefer a low-risk activity like rowing. This finding supports the notion that skydiving has similarities with addictive behaviors and that frequent exposure to "natural high" experiences is related to anhedonia. This suggests that the negative emotional state as observed in drug users may not be exclusively the results of exogenous psychopharmacological effects, but might also result from psychological mechanisms that are partly responsible for these anhedonic feelings.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

DSM-defined anxiety disorders symptoms in South African youths: Their assessment and relationship with perceived parental rearing behaviors.

This study investigated DSM-defined anxiety symptoms in South African youths. Children and adolescents (N = 701) from various cultural groups completed the SCARED and a questionnaire measuring perceived parental rearing behaviors. Results indicated that the psychometric properties of the SCARED were satisfactory in the total sample of South African youths, and acceptable in colored and black children and adolescents. Further, colored and black youths displayed higher SCARED scores than white youths, and there were also differences in the perceived parental rearing behaviors of the cultural groups. White youths generally rated their parents' rearing behaviors as less anxious, overprotective, and rejective, but more emotionally warm than colored and black youths. Finally, positive correlations were found between anxious rearing, overprotection, and rejection and anxiety symptoms. The clinical and research implications of these findings are briefly discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Gray's model of personality and addiction.

It has been suggested that high levels of behavioral approach system (BAS) sensitivity predispose psychopathological conditions that are characterized by a pathological engagement in approach behaviors, such as alcohol and drug abuse. The present study examined differences in scores on the BIS/BAS scales between clinically referred drug addicts and alcoholics and healthy control subjects. Results showed that drug addicts had higher BAS scores than controls and this was particularly true for BAS drive and BAS fun seeking. No differences were observed between the alcoholics and the other two groups. This is the first time that a relation between heightened BAS and drug addicts is observed in a clinical sample. These findings provide partial support for Gray's personality theory, which predicts a relation between BAS and substance abuse.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Fear-relevant change detection in spider-fearful and non-fearful participants.

Features of threatening stimuli are proposed to be processed fast and automatically, as they call for immediate attention. Phobic patients typically exhibit these attentional biases for stimuli that are relevant for their particular type of fear. In the present study, it was examined whether a change detection paradigm can be used to study attentional bias for fear-related stimuli. Twenty-five spider-fearful and 25 non-fearful participants were confronted with a series of pictures, in which sometimes a spider gradually appeared, sometimes a fear-irrelevant stimulus appeared, and sometimes no change occurred. Participants had to indicate whenever they noticed a change in the picture. Results showed a pattern of fear-relevant change detection. That is, spider changes were more frequently detected than fear-irrelevant changes, and spider-fearful participants detected more spider changes than non-fearful controls. Further, it was found that high-trait anxious participants did not detect more changes than low-trait anxious participants.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Anxiety, depression, and judgments about the probability of future negative and positive events in children.

Probability bias refers to the phenomenon that high-anxious individuals estimate future negative events as far more likely to occur, and in particular to themselves, than low-anxious individuals. The present study further examined this cognitive bias in a sample of non-clinical children aged between 10 and 13 years. Participants completed a scale for measuring symptoms of DSM-defined anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder, and a modified version of the Subjective Probability Questionnaire in order to assess probability estimates of future negative and positive events. Results showed that children's anxiety and depression symptoms were positively associated with probability estimates of future negative events, but only when these events referred to children themselves. Further, when controlling for concurrent depression symptoms, anxiety remained significantly linked to probability ratings of self-referent negative events. When controlling for concurrent anxiety symptoms, depression was no longer linked to probability estimates of negative events. Finally, depression symptoms were negatively related to probability ratings for future positive events.

Anxiety↗

PubMed2005

The role of temperament in the etiology of child psychopathology.

A substantial proportion of children and adolescents come to suffer from psychological disorders. This article focuses on the temperament factors that are involved in the pathogenesis of child psychopathology. It is argued that besides the reactive temperament factor of emotionality/neuroticism, the regulative process of effortful control also plays an important role in the etiology and maintenance of internalizing and externalizing problems in youths. More specifically, vulnerability to child psychopathology is determined by a temperament that is characterized by high levels of emotionality/neuroticism and low levels of effortful control. Models are hypothesized in which reactive and regulative temperament factors either have interactive or additive effects on the development of psychological disorders in children, and conceptualized in terms of a developmental psychopathology perspective. Directions for future research and clinical implications of this temperamental view on psychopathology are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

An experimental study of spider-related covariation bias in 8- to 13-year-old children.

Covariation bias can be defined as phobic subjects' tendency to overestimate the association between phobic stimuli and aversive outcomes. The current study presents two experiments that examined this type of cognitive bias in children aged 8-13 years (N=147 in Experiment 1, N=240 in Experiment 2). Children completed a self-report questionnaire for measuring spider fear and then participated in a card game in which fear-relevant (i.e., spider) and fear-irrelevant (i.e., weapon and Pokémon) pictures were equally paired with negative and positive outcomes (respectively losing and winning candy). No evidence was found for a relationship between children's level of spider fear and the tendency to link negative consequences to fear-relevant pictures. Various methodological and theoretical explanations for this null finding are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Individual differences in reward sensitivity are related to food craving and relative body weight in healthy women.

According to the theory of J.A. Gray, a strongly reactive approach system is highly sensitive to reward or to cues that signal reward. This implies that intake driven by the rewarding properties of food should be affected by individual differences in reactivity of the approach system. The present study examined whether reward sensitivity is associated with food craving and relative body weight in a sample of female college students. Participants completed the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire and the trait version of the Food Craving Questionnaire and also reported their weight and height in order to compute Body Mass Index (BMI). Sensitivity to reward was significantly related to food craving and BMI. Furthermore, the correlation between reward sensitivity and BMI was not attenuated when the influence of food craving was partialled out, indicating that the relation between sensitivity to reward and BMI was not mediated by food craving. This is the first study demonstrating a relation between the personality trait of sensitivity to reward and BMI. These findings are discussed in the context of the involvement of dopaminergic reward circuitry in overeating.

Adolescent↗