Bertus F Jeronimus
University of Groningen, Developmental psychology, Faculty Member
- University of Groningen, Psychiatry, Post-Docadd
- Psychiatry, Developmental Psychology, Personality Psychology, Mood Disorders (Psychology), Subjective Well-Being, Neuroticism, and 9 moreClinical Psychology, Personality, Mental Health, Depression, Personality Disorders, Neurotic Disorders, Mental Disorder, Five Factor Model, and Depressive Symptomsedit
- I study personality and subjective wellbeing ("happiness") and their link with affect, emotion and mood (anxiety/depr... moreI study personality and subjective wellbeing ("happiness") and their link with affect, emotion and mood (anxiety/depression) and with the environment in which one lives and grows (e.g., our social network, daily activities, adverse events, society). Currently I work at the University of Groningen in the Department of Developmental Psychology and in the Interdisciplinary Center Psychopathology and Emotion regulation (www.ICPE.NL)edit
The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic was a severe global health emergency and psychosocial event. Global social mitigation measures triggered the biggest economic meltdown in a century. Coronavirus 2019 influences... more
The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic was a severe global health emergency and psychosocial event. Global social mitigation measures triggered the biggest economic meltdown in a century. Coronavirus 2019 influences every aspect of our lives and accelerates societal transformations. The global scale of the pandemic enables scientists to compare contexts and cultures, while an unprecedented media coverage of this psychosocial event allows for a review of societal perspectives and sequalae. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic differs between socioeconomic strata, age cohorts, by gender, culture, and personality. But all humans were affected, if only via secondary stress (as observed after Ebola, Fukushima, Chernobyl, 9/11), or the mental health and financial consequences of prolonged social isolation (as observed after SARS/MERS), and the changes in the societies and nations that surround them, in terms of values, politics, and resources. People and societies experienced different intensities of threat and control and emotions such as anxiety and frustration, and behaved differently. Policies and citizen adherence influenced infection risk, mortality, and resilience during social isolation and prolonged social mitigation measures. This book describes the emotional, somatic, and mental health responses over the spring of 2020, as well as changes in the social world and in our feelings, thoughts, wants, behaviors, and values. Did we observe the expected rise in introversion, risk aversion, and collectivism? This book reviews the media and literature over the spring of 2020 to describe the characteristics of the Covid-19 pandemic as a natural experiment. The downstream Covid-19 pandemic outcomes are compared against the forecasted scenarios based on personality principles and theories (March 2020), including the Big Five factors, the behavioral immune system, and interpersonal theory. Over the next years we shall witness how individuals and societies managed and whether the predicted psychosocial and health responses can be observed. https://doi.org/10.21827/5ed9ebc01d65f
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The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic is a severe global health emergency and psychosocial event via social isolation measures, which triggered the biggest economic meltdown in a century. Coronavirus 2019... more
The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic is a severe global health emergency and psychosocial event via social isolation measures, which triggered the biggest economic meltdown in a century. Coronavirus 2019 influences every aspect of our lives and accelerates societal transformations. Downstream consequences of Covid-19 can be predicted using personality principles and theories, including the Big Five factors, the behavioral immune system, and interpersonal theory. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic shall differ between socioeconomic strata, age, gender, culture, and personality differences. All humans shall be affected, if only via secondary stress (as observed after Ebola, Fukushima, Chernobyl, 9/11), the severe mental health and financial consequences of prolonged social isolation (as observed after SARS/MERS), and changes in national values, politics, and resources. People and societies experience different levels of threat and control, anxiety, behavior (infection risk), mortality, and resilience during prolonged social isolation (coping). Emotional, somatic, and mental health responses follow over the spring of 2020. Our personality or what we generally feel, think, want, do, and value may change together with the structure of our social worlds. For example, we may expect people to become slightly more introverted, risk aversive, and collectivistic. This chapter was aimed to (1) introduce the Covid-19 pandemic as a natural experiment; (2) describe the event characteristics over the spring of 2020; (3) provide a preregistration of predictions on Covid-19 pandemic outcome scenarios using personality theory (see Tables 3 and 4, March 2020); (4) introduces the PsyCorona study and the HowNutsAreTheDutch platform which can be used to test some predictions (method section); (4) provide the background for an entry level course on personality and individual differences (PSB1E-05, May 2020); and (5) unravel the secrets of happy neurotics. Over the next years we shall witness how individuals and societies manage and whether the predicted psychosocial and health responses can be observed.
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ABSTRACT Durbin and Hicks concluded in their paper on personality-psychopathology relationships that the field is stagnant. Their remedy is the developmental perspective. We agree this is definitely one (already ongoing!) way forward.... more
ABSTRACT Durbin and Hicks concluded in their paper on personality-psychopathology relationships that the field is stagnant. Their remedy is the developmental perspective. We agree this is definitely one (already ongoing!) way forward. However, some of their judgements were overstated, while their proposal neglected deep complexities of the personality–disorder relationship. Nowhere did they specify and elaborate the ‘conceptual and empirical distinctions between traits and disorders’. Additionally, they failed to discuss two other complexities: induction time and determining true change. We elaborate these issues and stress the power of intervention designs.
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Childhood maltreatment (CM) is experienced by ~40% of all children at major personal and societal costs. Studies show adverse consequences of CM on emotional functioning and regulation. This article focuses on differential imprint of... more
Childhood maltreatment (CM) is experienced by ~40% of all children at major personal and societal costs. Studies show adverse consequences of CM on emotional functioning and regulation. This article focuses on differential imprint of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and/or neglect exteriences during childhood on emotional functionin later in life To study this, we calculated how intense, variable, unstable, inert, and diverse the daily emotions were of 290 Dutch adults (aged 19-73, measured thrice daily during 30 days (90 measurements per person, for five emotion dynamic indices). Participants described abuse/neglect retrospectively using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). In our structural equation model (SEM), only physical abuse was unrelated to all five emotion dynamic indices. Abuse and neglect showed specific patterns, e.g., emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and physical neglect associated mostly with negative emotions, and emotional neglect predominantly with positiv...
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Research Interests: Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Psychosis, Conscientiousness, Quality of life, and 15 moreMedicine, Distress, Neuroticism, Mental Disorders, Help Seeking, CAPE, Protective factors, Pet Ownership, Personality Trait Change, Anomalous Experiences, Birth Cohort, General Population, Psychotic Experiences, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, and Medical and Health Sciences
Research Interests: Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Personality, Psychopathology, Mediation, and 15 moreFrustration, Stress Generation, Negative Affect, Psychiatric Disorders, Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior in Adolescence, Temperament, Sex Differences, Mental Disorders, Moderation, Sensitivity, Stressful Life Events, Effortful Control, Stress Sensitivity, Externalizing Problems, and Negative emotionality
Research Interests: Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Psychosis, Depression, Medicine, and 15 moreActivities of Daily Living, Population, Humans, Affective Disorders, Female, Male, Prevalence, Adult, Psychotic Disorders, Depressive Symptoms, Experience Sampling Method, Psychological Stress, attitude to health, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, and Medical and Health Sciences
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BACKGROUND The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA; Nbaseline=2981) is an ongoing longitudinal, multi-site, naturalistic, cohort study examining the etiology, course, and consequences of depression and anxiety. In this... more
BACKGROUND The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA; Nbaseline=2981) is an ongoing longitudinal, multi-site, naturalistic, cohort study examining the etiology, course, and consequences of depression and anxiety. In this article we synthesize and evaluate fifteen years of NESDA research on prominent psychological risk factors for the onset, persistence, recurrence, and comorbidity of affective disorders. METHODS A narrative review of 62 NESDA articles examining the specificity and predictive value of neuroticism, behavioral inhibition, repetitive negative thinking, experiential avoidance, cognitive reactivity, locus of control, (implicit) self-esteem, (implicit) disorder-specific self-associations, and attentional bias for the course of affective disorders. RESULTS All self-reported risk factors showed cross-sectional relationships with singular and comorbid affective disorders, and prospective relationships with the development and chronicity of depression and anxiety disorders. High neuroticism, low self-esteem, and negative repetitive thinking showed most prominent transdiagnostic relationships, whereas cognitive reactivity showed most pronounced depression-specific associations. Implicit self-esteem showed predictive validity for the persistence and recurrence of anxiety and depression over and above self-reported risk factors. Automatic approach-avoidance behavior and attentional bias for negative, positive, or threat words showed no relationship with affective disorders. CONCLUSION NESDA identified both (a) transdiagnostic factors (e.g., neuroticism, low implicit self-esteem, repetitive negative thinking) that may help explain the comorbidity between affective disorders and overlap in symptoms, and (b) indications for disorder-specific risk factors (e.g., cognitive responsivity) which support the relevance of distinct disorder categories and disorder-specific mechanisms. Thus, the results point to the relevance of both transdiagnostic and disorder-specific targets for therapeutic interventions.
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Electronic diary questionnaire data can give insight into the day-to-day life of an individual. Unfortunately, such data only comprises subjective, self-report data. Combining questionnaire data with objectively measured sensor data can... more
Electronic diary questionnaire data can give insight into the day-to-day life of an individual. Unfortunately, such data only comprises subjective, self-report data. Combining questionnaire data with objectively measured sensor data can greatly enrich a dataset. We present Physiqual, a platform that allows for combining commercial sensor data with diary data. Personalized healthcare is gaining attention in several fields of healthcare, including the field of psychiatry. Currently, most psychiatric research is still based on averages drawn from population samples, even though evidence suggests that such averages might not always hold for the individual. Electronic diary data (or Ecological Momentary Assessments, EMA) shows promise in shifting our focus towards the individual in the field of psychiatry. EMA can be used to provide insight into the day-to-day fluctuations of various psychological and physiological variables of a person over time. As with all questionnaire data, data retrieved from EMA studies can be subjective. Furthermore, due to the number of questionnaires and questions, completing an EMA study can be cumbersome. In order to ease the collection of data and enrich data obtained through EMA studies, we have designed Physiqual, a platform that allows for combining diary study data with objectively measured data from commercially available sensors, such as provided by Fitbit, Google, or Jawbone. Currently Physiqual can offer data from two service providers, viz. Google Fit and Fitbit. From these platforms we expose five variables, that is, steps, sleep, distance, calories expended and heart rate. We automatically apply transformations to each of the variables, making the data useful for combination with diary study data. Besides providing access to the sensor data, Physiqual can provide aggregated and resampled datasets. Physiqual automatically serves data in a format that can easily be combined with existing diary study designs. That is, it resamples the data in a way similar to the diary study protocol, and exposes the separate variables in a format useful for the researcher. Furthermore, missing data can be imputed automatically by one of the various imputation algorithms available. To demonstrate how Physiqual works, we will present a two-subject case study. The subjects participated in a thirty day, tri-daily EMA study for collecting psychological data, while wearing a wearable device or smartwatch. We analyzed the combined dataset using a statistical method known as vector autoregression, to show the temporal relations between the variables. We expect sensor quality and wearable data to improve significantly in the near future. Physiqual automatically supports this wearable evolution, and allows researchers to take advantage of the best commercial wearable technology available.
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Background: Subclinical psychotic experiences are common in the general population and form a paradox. On the one hand, psychotic experiences have a relatively high prevalence in the general population and the majority of such experiences... more
Background: Subclinical psychotic experiences are common in the general population and form a paradox. On the one hand, psychotic experiences have a relatively high prevalence in the general population and the majority of such experiences is transient. Even most individuals considered to be at Ultra High Risk (UHR) do not develop a clinical psychotic disorder. On the other hand, psychotic experiences are associated with a large number of concurrent mental health problems. Even in individuals at UHR who do not develop a clinical psychotic disorder, psychotic experiences are associated with mental health problems and poorer psychosocial functioning. A challenge for both researchers and clinicians is to adequately distinguish those with benign experiences from those with more pathological psychotic experiences. One possible explanation for this is that most research on psychotic experiences has focused exclusively on positive psychotic experiences. However, psychosis is currently conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. Another possible explanation may be that they form a heterogeneous concept as not all experiences may be pathological in nature. The goal of the present study was to perform quantitative and qualitative examinations of the heterogeneity of individuals reporting subclinical psychotic experiences in a unique Dutch internet-based general population sample. Methods: The HowNutsAreTheDutch study is a large-scale crowdsourcing project, and its aims are twofold: to (i) investigate the continuity of multiple mental health dimensions in the Dutch population and (ii) gain more insight into the interactions between mental strengths and mental vulnerabilities/problems. Positive and negative subclinical psychotic experiences were measured with the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) in n = 2870 individuals. The prevalence of these experiences and their associations with demographics, affect, psychopathology and quality of life were investigated first. Next, Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to identify data-driven subgroups with different symptom patterns. These subgroups were also compared on aforementioned factors. Results: Subclinical psychotic experiences were commonly reported. Prevalence rates differed strongly between items, ranging from 1-89% (mean: 21% for positive and 56% for negative experiences). Both positive and negative psychotic experiences were associated with younger age, more negative affect, anxiety and depression and less positive affect and quality of life. Seven latent classes were identified that were labeled as ‘Mentally fit’, ‘Lethargic’, ‘Blunted’, ‘Distressed’, ‘Spiritual’, ‘Grandiose’, and ‘Pathological’. These classes demonstrated both quantitative differences in the number/severity of reported psychotic experiences and qualitative differences in the patterns of reported experiences. Discussion: Subclinical psychotic experiences show both dimensional severity variations and discrete symptom pattern variations across individuals in the general population, suggesting that, to understand and capture all interindividual variations in subclinical psychotic experiences, their number, nature and context should all be considered at the same time. Only some psychotic experiences may lay on a true psychopathological psychosis continuum. Taking into account the base rate in the population as well as the context of psychotic experiences (i.e. the larger pattern in which they occur) could help to determine whether such experiences should be interpreted as a warning signal or not. This may help us to identify those individuals who are at most risk for developing mental health problems and may guide services of early detection and intervention
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Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Personality, Conscientiousness, Life course, and 15 moreMedia, Medicine, Individual Differences, Birth Weight, Neuroticism, Predictive Validity, Age Differences, Crash, Personality Traits, British psychology, Positive Affect, Positive and Negative Affect, Pregnant Women, Depressive Symptoms, and Terrorist attacks
Research Interests: Psychology, Personality Psychology, Personality, Conscientiousness, Life Events, and 11 moreNeuroticism, Personality Development, Big Five Personality Traits, Trait, Dynamic systems, Subjective Well Being, Dynamic Systems, Setpoint Theory, Academic, Trait Theory, and Social production function theory
Research Interests: Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Science, Psychometrics, Internet-based surveying, and 15 moreItem Response Theory, Medicine, Anxiety, Validation, Negative Affect, Normative data, Linking, Validity, DASS, Psychometric, Convergent Validity, ANXIETY, Panas, Symptomatology, and Clinical samples
Research Interests: Ergodic Theory, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Diary Studies, and 15 moreAnxiety, Behavioural Sciences, Affect, Experience, Humans, Female, Intraindividual variability, Male, Heart rate, Generalizability Theory, Idiographic Science, Daily Life, ANXIETY, Ecological Fallacy, and Bivariate Analysis
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Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing—explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically... more
Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing—explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examined only a small number of predictors in one, or a small number of, national contexts. Such approaches make it difficult to examine the relative importance of predictors, and risk overlooking some potentially relevant variables altogether. To overcome this limitation, the present study used machine learning to rank‐order the importance of 115 individual‐ and country‐level variables in predicting conspiracy theorizing. Data were collected from 56,072 respondents across 28 countries during the early weeks of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Echoing previous findings, important predictors at the individual level included societal discontent, paranoia, and personal struggle. Contrary to prior research, important country‐level predictors included indicators of pol...
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Research Interests: Health Psychology, Health Behavior, Environmental Health, Health Behaviors, Stress, and 15 moreStress Management, Medicine, Anxiety, Exercise and physical activity for health, Sleep Quality, Psychological Intervention, Sleep, Exercise, Multilevel Modeling, Longitudinal Study, ANXIETY, Stress Psychology, Pandemic, CoVid, and stressor
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A variety of public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/ regional “lockdown”) may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective.... more
A variety of public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/ regional “lockdown”) may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been singled out as one potential risk factor for non-compliance. We examined whether there was empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sample of 63,336 community respondents from 116 countries. Although boredom was higher in countries with more COVID-19 cases and countries that instituted more stringent lockdowns, such boredom did not predict longitudinal within-person decreases in social distancing behavior (or vice versa; n = 8031) in early spring and summer of 2020. Overall, we found little evidence that changes in boredom predict individual public health behaviors (handwashing, staying home, self-quarantining, avoiding crowds) over time, or that such behaviors had ...
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We offer our sincere gratitude to Hamaker and Ryan (1) for their comment. As we note in our manuscript (2), we believe the generalization issue in question to be a key problem in human subject research methodology. This challenge requires... more
We offer our sincere gratitude to Hamaker and Ryan (1) for their comment. As we note in our manuscript (2), we believe the generalization issue in question to be a key problem in human subject research methodology. This challenge requires effort from all quarters to resolve. We also agree "that we should interpret measures in terms of what they are meant to represent." This is perhaps the most important point to be taken from our paper-that understanding individuals requires measuring and analyzing individuals. Thus, it may be fair to argue that comparisons between idio-graphic and nomothetic data structures offer limited value. To this end, we do not diverge from Hamaker and Ryan's position. However, we should clarify that the repeated sampling paradigm we used explicitly avoids the problem of an asymptotically error-free estimate under infinite sampling conditions. As Hamaker and Ryan (1) note, our cross-sectional samples were not independent. Specifically, we resampled the same population, in its entirety, multiple times. As a result, the variability around the cross-sectional correlation estimate is the degree to which that estimate varies within the sampled population over time. Taken to the extreme, measuring a bivariate correlation in the entire human population at one time point would return a cross-sectional estimate without error. However, measuring the same bivariate correlation in the entire human population repeatedly would produce a distribution of estimates with a central tendency and a non-zero SD-the degree to which each measurement varied from the average across time points. Consequently , our estimate is not a proxy for the SE of the cross-sectional correlation estimate or for within-individual correlations, but a third representation, which estimates within-sample temporal instability in cross-sectional estimates. As Hamaker and Ryan (1) would likely agree, this third representation is fundamentally not a representation of within-subject processes over time. Moreover , it is also fair to acknowledge that it likely does not reflect the true measure of the variability (i.e., temporal instability) of the cross-sectional estimate over time. Although the repeated sampling of any population will produce variation around the mean, some of this variation will no doubt be due to within-individual variance over time. This intrasubject variation might further include important stochastic, nonlinear, and phase information. We believe that for group-derived statistical estimates to generalize to individuals, these estimates must hold true over time (and likewise correspond with temporal dynamics at the individual level). Given that human physiology and phenomenology unfold in time, quantifications of human experience must apply over repeated intervals. However, the variability that a single individual exhibits in behavior over repeated assessments is fundamentally different from the variability that a cross-sectional estimate exhibits from repeated testing. Thus, it may be inappropriate to use one estimate to represent or draw inferences about the other (3). Like Hamaker and Ryan (1), we advocate for statistical practices that distinguish group and individual effects, as these illustrate the difference between understanding people and claims about groups, which may or may not extrapolate to their constituent individuals.
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We thank Adolf and Fried (2019) for their insightful commentary on our paper (Fisher et al., 2018). We agree, in principle, that group-to-individual generalizability lies along a continuum. Some intraindividual and interindividual... more
We thank Adolf and Fried (2019) for their insightful commentary on our paper (Fisher et al., 2018). We agree, in principle, that group-to-individual generalizability lies along a continuum. Some intraindividual and interindividual statistical estimates may be ergodic, sharing equivalent values across all statistical moments. Under these conditions, inferences from cross-sectional data could be applied to individuals. On the other end of this continuum, intra- and interindividual estimates are orthogonal, rendering them unrelated and nontransferable.
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In his target paper Hopwood proposes the expansion of the Big Five framework beyond the conventional range of personality features to cover (a) their maladaptive extremes nowadays conceptualized as personality disorders and (b) dynamic... more
In his target paper Hopwood proposes the expansion of the Big Five framework beyond the conventional range of personality features to cover (a) their maladaptive extremes nowadays conceptualized as personality disorders and (b) dynamic intra-individual processes that underlie and contextualize traits and changes within situations. In this comment we reflect on both proposals and support Hopwood's plea to enrich the neuroticism factor and integrate affect dynamics within the Big Five fabric. We conclude with some musings on the definition of abnormality and current practices in the personality disorder literature.
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With this note we aim to rectify the estimated prevalence of depression symptom levels in our paper on the HowNutsAreTheDutch dataset (van der Krieke et al., 2015, p.13) based on the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS). The... more
With this note we aim to rectify the estimated prevalence of depression symptom levels in our paper on the HowNutsAreTheDutch dataset (van der Krieke et al., 2015, p.13) based on the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS). The estimates were reported to be based on the cutoff norms for the DASS provided by Lovibond et al. (1995). Alas, by mistake the stress scale cutoff was also used for the depression scale. Consequently, our estimates of the prevalence of depression were too conservative as the correct norms by Lovibond would have resulted in 26.2% participants with mild symptom levels (instead of the reported 14.8%), 16.8% with moderate levels (instead of 9.1%), 7.2% with severe symptom levels (instead of 3.9%), and 3.0% with extremely severe levels (instead of 1.3%). Importantly, the reported results based on the continuous anxiety and stress scales were not affected, and neither were all other estimations of the role of depression and of gender differences in the paper and tables, because these were based on the DASS depression scale scores (without cutoffs) or Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS) symptom counts. None of the subsequent papers using the HowNutsAreTheDutch dataset were affected. A detailed study of the DASS, and especially of the depression scale and the distribution and prevalence of the symptoms in the HowNutsAreTheDutch sample and a comparison with other depression instruments is provided in Wardenaar et al. (2017): " the psychometric properties of an internet-administered version of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS) in a Sample of Dutch Adults " (doi: 10.1007/s10862-017-9626-6). We apologize for the inconvenience.
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Baumert and colleagues argued that research on between- and within-individual differences and expression of personality processes in context should be integrated. We applaud this effort and their focus on developmental processes but felt... more
Baumert and colleagues argued that research on between- and within-individual differences and expression of personality processes in context should be integrated. We applaud this effort and their focus on developmental processes but felt that their descriptions remained too unspecific. This comment highlights six issues that may contribute to a fruitful debate of future personality research: (a) induction time, (b) co-development of disorder states, (c) theory testing, (d) non-ergodicity and inferences at the within-individual level, (e) development as a complex dynamic system and (f) integration of literatures from neighboring scientific disciplines.
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Durbin and Hicks concluded in their paper on personality-psychopathology relationships that the field is stagnant. Their remedy is the developmental perspective. We agree this is definitely one (already ongoing!) way forward. However,... more
Durbin and Hicks concluded in their paper on personality-psychopathology relationships that the field is stagnant. Their remedy is the developmental perspective. We agree this is definitely one (already ongoing!) way forward. However, some of their judgements were overstated, while their proposal neglected deep complexities of the personality–disorder relationship. Nowhere did they specify and elaborate the ‘conceptual and empirical distinctions between traits and disorders’. Additionally, they failed to discuss two other complexities: induction time and determining true change. We elaborate these issues and stress the power of intervention designs.
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Behavioral-genetic studies show substantial non-genetic influences on variance of neuroticism within a population. Longitudinal studies show a small but steady drop in test-retest correlations with increasing time intervals. This suggest... more
Behavioral-genetic studies show substantial non-genetic influences on variance of neuroticism within a population. Longitudinal studies show a small but steady drop in test-retest correlations with increasing time intervals. This suggest environmental effects on neuroticism, but a systematic overview of which environmental determinants account for change in neuroticism is lacking. We review (specific or unique) environmental influences that modify the neuroticism setpoint in adulthood and therewith individual life trajectories. Results are interpreted in light of the so-called ‘mixed model’ in which within-person changes in neuroticism are subdivided over short term perturbations around the setpoint of neuroticism versus more persistent changes in the setpoint itself. To account for genetic confounding and shared environmental influences studies of monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs discordant for neuroticism and longitudinal studies that report on environmental factors that predict within-individual change in neuroticism are reviewed. Our results indicate that the neuroticism setpoint is consistently touched by experiences that affect central aspects of one’s identity and status, mainly role transitions as partner (marriage/divorce) and employee (job loss/promotion). Especially interpersonal stress, conflict, and major events that were unpredictable, uncontrollable, unexpected, undesirable, and ‘off time’ from a life history perspective were followed by changes in neuroticism that persisted more than six months, which suggest setpoint change. Most change after severe SLEs persisted over a decade. Long-term and detailed studies are required to elucidate the details of the ‘mixed model’ of change in neuroticism. An understanding of the specifics of the events that lead to persistent changes in neuroticism may enable us to craft prevention strategies to tackle the vulnerability for mental disorders inherent in high neuroticism, rather than to wait for their manifestation.
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Over recent years, it has become clear that group-based approaches cannot directly be used to understand individual adolescent development. For that reason, interest in Dynamic Systems Theory, or DST, has increased rapidly. Psychosocial... more
Over recent years, it has become clear that group-based approaches cannot directly be used to understand individual adolescent development. For that reason, interest in Dynamic Systems Theory, or DST, has increased rapidly. Psychosocial Development in Adolescence: Insights from the Dynamic Systems Approach covers state-of-the-art insights into adolescent development that have resulted from adopting a dynamic systems approach. The first chapter of the book provides a basic introduction into dynamic systems principles and explains their consequences for the study of development. Subsequently, different experts discuss why and how we can apply a dynamic systems approach to the study of the adolescent transition period and psychological interventions. Various examples of the application of a dynamic systems approach are showcased, ranging from basic to more advanced techniques, as well as the insights they have generated. These applications cover a variety of fundamental topics in adolescent development, ranging from the development of identity, morality, sexuality, and peer-networks, to more applied topics such as psychological interventions, educational dropout, and talent development. This book will be invaluable to both beginner and expert level students and researchers interested in a dynamic systems approach and in the insights that it has yielded for adolescent development.
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This is a comment on the review by Brandes and Tackett (2019) of the connection between neuroticism and psychopathology as conceptualized in the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology or (HiTOP).