Medical psychometrics:A psychometric evaluation of Type D personality and its predictive value in medical research

Type D personality–a combination of high negative affectivity and high social inhibition–has been identified as a risk factor for adverse outcome in various patient populations. However, common methods used to establish the predictive value of Type D personality have been criticized and several recent studies were not able to replicate previous findings. To explain these inconsistencies, this interdisciplinary dissertation brings together experts from the fields of medical psychology and psychometrics. It presents a psychometric evaluation of the construct Type D personality and illustrates how it can best be modeled in medical and psychological research. Based on thousands of computer-simulated datasets, as well as empirical data from patients with various types of diseases, this dissertation shows why most published research testing a Type D personality effect should be reanalyzed using modern psychometric and statistical methods. It also presents a first attempt at this endeavor by reanalyzing various earlier published datasets, showing that coronary artery disease patients with Type D personality are at increased risk for adverse outcome

A systematic review comparing two popular methods to assess a Type D personality effect

Introduction:  Type D personality, operationalized as high scores on negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI), has been associated with various medical and psychosocial outcomes. The recent failure to replicate several earlier findings could result from the various methods used to assess the Type D effect. Despite recommendations to analyze the continuous NA and SI scores, a popular approach groups people as having Type D personality or not. This method does not adequately detect a Type D effect as it is also sensitive to main effects of NA or SI only, suggesting the literature contains false positive Type D effects. Here, we systematically assess the extent of this problem. Method:  We conducted a systematic review including 44 published studies assessing a Type D effect with both a continuous and dichotomous operationalization. Results:  The dichotomous method showed poor agreement with the continuous Type D effect. Of the 89 significant dichotomous method effects, 37 (41.6%) were Type D effects according to the continuous method. The remaining 52 (58.4%) are therefore likely not Type D effects based on the continuous method, as 42 (47.2%) were main effects of NA or SI only. Conclusion:  Half of the published Type D effect according to the dichotomous method may be false positives, with only NA or SI driving the outcome

Latent logistic interaction modeling::A simulation and empirical illustration of Type D personality

This study focuses on three popular methods to model interactions between two constructs containing measurement error in predicting an observed binary outcome: logistic regression using (1) observed scores, (2) factor scores, and (3) Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It is still unclear how they compare with respect to bias and precision in the estimated interaction when item scores underlying the interaction constructs are skewed and ordinal. In this article, we investigated this issue using both a Monte Carlo simulation and an empirical illustration of the effect of Type D personality on cardiac events. Our results indicated that the logistic regression using SEM performed best in terms of bias and confidence interval coverage, especially at sample sizes of 500 or larger. Although for most methods bias increased when item scores were skewed and ordinal, SEM produced relatively unbiased interaction effect estimates when items were modeled as ordered categorical

A comprehensive meta-analysis of money priming

Research on money priming typically investigates whether exposure to money-related stimuli can affect people's thoughts, feelings, motivations and behaviors (for a review, see Vohs, 2015). Our study answers the call for a comprehensive meta-analysis examining the available evidence on money priming (Vadillo, Hardwicke & Shanks, 2016). By conducting a systematic search of published and unpublished literature on money priming, we sought to achieve three key goals. First, we aimed to assess the presence of biases in the available published literature (e.g., publication bias). Second, in the case of such biases, we sought to derive a more accurate estimate of the effect size after correcting for these biases. Third, we aimed to investigate whether design factors such as prime type and study setting moderated the money priming effects. Our overall meta-analysis included 246 suitable experiments and showed a significant overall effect size estimate (Hedges' g = .31, 95%CI = [0.26, 0.36]). However, publication bias and related biases are likely given the asymmetric funnel plots, Egger's test and two other tests for publication bias. Moderator analyses offered insight into the variation of the money priming effect, suggesting for various types of study designs whether the effect was present, absent, or biased. We found the largest money priming effect in lab studies investigating a behavioral dependent measure using a priming technique in which participants actively handled money. Future research should use sufficiently powerful pre-registered studies to replicate these findings

Assessing the temporal stability of psychological constructs:An illustration of Type D personality, anxiety and depression

Various methods exist to assess the temporal stability of psychological constructs. In this paper we discuss common methods based on a review of the personality traits negative affectivity and social inhibition. Most methods ignore the non-normal distributions and measurement error in the questionnaire item scores. We illustrate how to handle these issues using three longitudinal latent variable models. We further highlight the importance of testing the often overlooked assumption of longitudinal measurement invariance. Lastly, we apply several longitudinal measurement invariance models, univariate and multivariate latent growth curves models, and latent trait-state occasions models to data from 2625 cancer survivors, to assess the temporal stability of negative affectivity, social inhibition, depression, anxiety, across a period of four years

Prevalence and related factors of child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 pandemic:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted many aspects of society and has indirectly produced various psychological consequences. This systematic review aimed to estimate the worldwide prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to identify protective or risk factors contributing to child PTSD. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search in the PubMed, ProQuest, PsycINFO, Embase, Web of Science, WanFang, CNKI, and VIP databases. We searched for studies published between January 1, 2020 and May 26, 2021, that reported the prevalence of child PTSD due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as factors contributing to child PTSD. Eighteen studies were included in our systematic review, of which 10 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Results: The estimated prevalence of child PTSD after the COVID-19 outbreak was 28.15% (95% CI: 19.46–36.84%, I subgroup analyses for specific regions the estimated prevalence of post-pandemic child PTSD was 19.61% (95% CI: 11.23–27.98%) in China, 50.8% (95% CI: 34.12–67.49%) in the USA, and 50.08% in Italy (95% CI: 47.32–52.84%). Conclusions: Factors contributing to child PTSD were categorized into four aspects: personal factors, family factors, social factors and infectious diseases related factors. Based on this, we presented a new framework summarizing the occurrence and influence of the COVID-19 related child PTSD, which may contribute to a better understanding, prevention and development of interventions for child PTSD in forthcoming pandemics

Paternal depression: an examination of its links with father, child and family functioning in the postnatal period.

BACKGROUND: Maternal depression is common and is known to affect both maternal and child health. One of the mechanisms by which maternal depression exerts its effects on child health is through an increased rate of parental disharmony. Fathers also experience depression, but the impact of this on family functioning has been less studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between paternal depressive disorder and family and child functioning, in the first 3 months of a child's life. METHODS: A controlled study comparing individual and familial outcomes in fathers with (n = 54) and without diagnosed depressive disorder (n = 99). Parental couple functioning and child temperament were assessed by both paternal and maternal report. RESULTS: Depression in fathers is associated with an increased risk of disharmony in partner relationships, reported by both fathers and their partners, controlling for maternal depression. Few differences in infant's reported temperament were found in the early postnatal period. CONCLUSIONS: These findings emphasize the importance of considering the potential for men, as well as women, to experience depression in the postnatal period. Paternal symptoms hold the potential to impact upon fathers, their partners, and their children

Network analysis of COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms in China:The similarities and differences between the general population and PTSD sub-population

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Prevalent Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) negatively affected individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using network analyses, this study explored the construct of PTSD symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in China to identify similarities and differences in PTSD symptom network connectivity between the general Chinese population and individuals reporting PTSD. METHODS: We conducted an online survey recruiting 2858 Chinese adults. PTSD symptoms were measured using the PCL-5 and PTSD was determined according to the DSM-5 criteria. RESULTS: In the general population, self-destructive/reckless behaviours were on average the most strongly connected to other PTSD symptoms in the network. The five strongest positive connections were found between 1) avoidance of thoughts and avoidance of reminders, 2) concentration difficulties and sleep disturbance, 3) negative beliefs and negative trauma-related emotions, 4) irritability/anger and self-destructive/reckless behaviours, and 5) hypervigilance and exaggerated startle responses. Besides, negative connections were found between intrusive thoughts and trauma-related amnesia and between intrusive thoughts and self-destructive/reckless behaviours. Among individuals reporting PTSD, symptoms such as flashbacks and self-destructive/reckless behaviours were on average most strongly connected to other PTSD symptoms in the network. The five strongest positive connections were found between 1) concentration difficulty and sleep disturbance, 2) intrusive thoughts and emotional cue reactivity, 3) negative beliefs and negative trauma-related emotions, 4) irritability/anger and self-destructive/reckless behaviour, and 5) detachment and restricted affect. In addition, a negative connection was found between intrusive thoughts and self-destructive/reckless behaviours. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate similarly positive connections between concentration difficulty and sleep disturbance, negative beliefs and negative trauma-related emotions, and irritability/anger and self-destructive/reckless behaviours in the general and PTSD-reported populations. We argue that self-destructive/reckless behaviours are a core symptom of COVID-19 related PTSD, worthy of more attention in future psychiatric programmers