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Genetic and environmental relations of executive functions to antisocial personality disorder symptoms and psychopathy.

ABSTRACT: Meta-analytic findings suggest that antisocial behavior, broadly defined, may relate to a Common Executive Function (EF) factor that captures covariance across response inhibition, working memory updating, and mental set shifting tasks. However, it is unclear whether this common factor, which is isomorphic with individual differences in response inhibition, accounts for all of the EF variance in antisocial behavior and psychopathy, or if they also relate to updating- and shifting-specific abilities. Moreover, findings that antisocial behavior and lower cognitive ability are particularly associated with the psychopathy dimension reflecting impulsivity and irresponsibility, compared to the dimension reflecting affective-interpersonal functioning, raise the possibility that EF relates to the variance shared between the impulsive-irresponsible psychopathy dimension and antisocial personality disorder. We examined these questions in a young adult twin sample (N = 765) with measures of multiple EF latent variables, Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) Primary (affective-interpersonal) and Secondary (impulsive-irresponsible) scales, and antisocial personality disorder symptoms (ASPDsx). Phenotypically, higher ASPDsx and LSRP Secondary psychopathy, but not LSRP Primary psychopathy, were associated with lower Common EF. Moreover, both psychopathy dimensions were negatively correlated with Updating-Specific ability, which was unrelated to ASPDsx. Results from twin models indicated that the association between LSRP Secondary psychopathy and ASPDsx was due to both genetic and nonshared environmental influences; however, Common EF's association with ASPDsx was primarily genetic, whereas its association with LSRP Secondary psychopathy had a significant environmental component. Thus, the interrelations among these constructs may reflect heterogeneous etiological pathways.

SUBMITTER: Friedman NP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6581644 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundExecutive functions (EF) consolidate during adolescence and are impaired in various emerging psychiatric disorders, such as pediatric Major Depressive Disorder (pMDD) and Borderline Personality Disorder. Previous studies point to a marked heterogeneity of deficits in EF in pMDD. We examined the hypothesis that deficits in EF in adolescents with pMDD might be related to comorbid Borderline Personality features (BPF).MethodsWe examined a sample of 144 adolescents (15.86 ± 1.32) diagnosed with pMDD. Parents rated their child's EF in everyday life with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and BPF with the Impulsivity and Emotion Dysregulation Scale (IED-27). The adolescents completed equivalent self-rating measures. Self- and parent-ratings of the BRIEF scores were compared with paired t-Tests. Correlation and parallel mediation analyses, ICC, and multiple regression analyses were used to assess symptom overlap, parent-child agreement, and the influence of depression severity.ResultsOver the whole sample, none of the self- or parent-rated BRIEF scales reached a mean score above T > 65, which would indicate clinically impaired functioning. Adolescents tended to report higher impairment in EF than their parents. Depression severity was the strongest predictor for BPF scores, with Emotional Control predicting parent-rated BPF and Inhibit predicting self-rated BPF. Furthermore, the Behavioral Regulation Index, which includes EF closely related to behavioral control, significantly mediated the relationship between depression severity and IED-27 factors emotional dysregulation and relationship difficulties but not non-suicidal self-injuries.ConclusionOn average, adolescents with depression show only subtle deficits in executive functioning. However, increased EF deficits are associated with the occurrence of comorbid borderline personality features, contributing to a more severe overall psychopathology. Therefore, training of executive functioning might have a positive effect on psychosocial functioning in severely depressed adolescents, as it might also improve comorbid BPF.Clinical trial registrationwww.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03167307.

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Genetic and environmental relations of executive functions to antisocial personality disorder symptoms and psychopathy.

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