 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 5, 2010
New research suggests a strong link between personality traits observed in childhood and adult behavior.
Scientists reviewed data from a 1960s study of approximately 2,400 ethnically diverse elementary schoolchildren in Hawaii.
They then compared teacher personality ratings of the students with videotaped interviews of 144 of those individuals 40 years later.
What they discovered was surprising, said Christopher S. Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California-Riverside and lead author of the paper, “On the Contextual Independence of Personality: Teachers’ Assessments Predict Directly Observed Behavior After Four Decades.â€
“We remain recognizably the same person,†Nave said. “This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts.â€
The researchers examined four personality attributes – verbally fluent, adaptable, impulsive and self-minimizing. They found that:
- Youngsters identified as verbally fluent – defined as unrestrained talkativeness – tended, as middle-aged adults, to display interest in intellectual matters, speak fluently, try to control the situation, and exhibit a high degree of intelligence. Children rated low in verbal fluency by their teachers were observed as adults to seek advice, give up when faced with obstacles, and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.
- Children rated as highly adaptable – defined as coping easily and successfully with new situations – tended, as middle-aged adults, to behave cheerfully, speak fluently and show interest in intellectual matters. Those who rated low in adaptability as children were observed as adults to say negative things about themselves, seek advice and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.
- Students rated as impulsive as adults were inclined to speak loudly, display a wide range of interests and be talkative. Those who were rated low on impulsivity were observed, as adults, to be fearful or timid, keep others at a distance and express insecurity.
- Children whose teachers rated them as having a tendency to self-minimize – defined as humble, minimizing their own importance or never showing off – as adults were likely to express guilt, seek reassurance, say negative things about themselves and express insecurity. Those who were ranked low as self-minimizing were observed as adults to speak loudly, show interest in intellectual matters and exhibit condescending behavior.
Read in Full: http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/05/adult-behavior-follows-childhood-personality/16447.html
 
Article Date: 02 Aug 2010 – 3:00 PDT
Certain personality traits, demographic and work related factors increase the likelihood that doctors will develop mental illness or hazardous alcohol habits according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Dr Louise Nash, from the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry and University of Sydney and co-authors conducted a study to identify factors associated with psychiatric morbidity and hazardous alcohol use in Australian doctors. A total of 2999 doctors participated in the study.
Dr Nash said that the mental health of medical practitioners is crucial to the quality of care their patients receive.
“Factors significantly associated with psychiatric morbidity in doctors included having a current medicolegal matter, not taking a holiday in the previous year, working long hours, type of specialty, and having the personality traits of neuroticism or introversion,” Dr Nash said.
“Factors significantly associated with potentially hazardous alcohol use were being male, being Australian-trained, being aged between 40 and 59 years, having the personality traits of neuroticism or extroversion, failing to meet Continuing Medical Education requirements, and being a solo practitioner.”
Dr Nash said that, although personality traits contributed highly to doctors developing a mental illness and hazardous alcohol habits, she highlighted that the work related factors could not be ignored.
“Unlike personality traits, the work-related and lifestyle factors associated with psychiatric morbidity and hazardous alcohol use are more easily addressed,” Dr Nash said.
“Doctors should reflect on their hours of work and need for holidays.
“Doctors need to be educated about medicolegal processes and understand how the experience may affect their health, their work and their loved ones.”
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
Â
Article Date: 02 Aug 2010 – 3:00 PDT
Certain personality traits, demographic and work related factors increase the likelihood that doctors will develop mental illness or hazardous alcohol habits according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Dr Louise Nash, from the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry and University of Sydney and co-authors conducted a study to identify factors associated with psychiatric morbidity and hazardous alcohol use in Australian doctors. A total of 2999 doctors participated in the study.
Dr Nash said that the mental health of medical practitioners is crucial to the quality of care their patients receive.
“Factors significantly associated with psychiatric morbidity in doctors included having a current medicolegal matter, not taking a holiday in the previous year, working long hours, type of specialty, and having the personality traits of neuroticism or introversion,” Dr Nash said.
“Factors significantly associated with potentially hazardous alcohol use were being male, being Australian-trained, being aged between 40 and 59 years, having the personality traits of neuroticism or extroversion, failing to meet Continuing Medical Education requirements, and being a solo practitioner.”
Dr Nash said that, although personality traits contributed highly to doctors developing a mental illness and hazardous alcohol habits, she highlighted that the work related factors could not be ignored.
“Unlike personality traits, the work-related and lifestyle factors associated with psychiatric morbidity and hazardous alcohol use are more easily addressed,” Dr Nash said.
“Doctors should reflect on their hours of work and need for holidays.
“Doctors need to be educated about medicolegal processes and understand how the experience may affect their health, their work and their loved ones.”
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
 
Seven hours sleep a night best for health
Fewer than seven hours a night linked to heart disease
2 Aug, 2010 09:00 am GMT
People who regularly sleep more or fewer than seven hours a night could be increasing their risk of heart disease, new research found.
A study of more than 30,000 adults found that cardiovascular disease – angina, heart attack and strokes – was twice as likely to occur in people who slept for less than seven hours a night compared with those who slept for seven hours.
In the study, participants were asked to fill in questionaires about their health and lifestyle, including questions about their sleep patterns.
People who slept for fewer than five hours a night had double the risk of developing heart disease compared to those who got a good seven hours.
The findings showed the risk was highest in women, and in those over the age of 60.
Sleeping for more than seven hours was also shown to be associated with an increased, but less dramatic risk, as people who slept for more than nine hours a day were one and a half times more likely to develop heart disease.
Although the researchers could not explain why too much or too little sleep could affect the health of your heart, they suggested that short sleep duration may be related to changes in the body’s metabolism and hormonal functions.
Sleep deprivation is associated with impaired glucose tolerance, reduced insulin sensitivity and elevated blood pressure, all of which increase the risk of hardening of the arteries, they said.
Long sleep duration may be related to an underlying sleep-related breathing disorder or poor sleep quality, researchers said.
“Sleep disturbances may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease even among apparently healthy subjects,” said study leader Dr Anoop Shankar from the Department of Community Medicine at West Virginia University.
“Our study findings may have important clinical and public health implications, such as screening for changes in sleep duration by primary care physicians as a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease, or initiating public health initiatives focussing on improving sleep quality and quantity,” Dr Shankar added.
The findings are published in the journal Sleep.
 
Tired on Mondays? Sleep More on Weekends
If you’re feeling especially tired today — and it’s Monday — it may be because you didn’t get your normal recharge of sleep this past weekend.
So says a new study published in the journal Sleep by David Dinges and his colleagues.
Researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the results of a sleep deprivation study on 159 healthy, middle-aged adults.
A group of 142 participants were sleep-deprived by allowing them only four hours of sleep for 5 consecutive nights. But before the sleep deprivation, these subjects were first given two nights of 10-hour sleep periods, to ensure all participants started at similar sleep levels.
They were then allowed randomized doses of recovery sleep ranging from zero hours to 10 hours for per night.
The other 17 participants in the study spent 10 hours in bed on all nights.
To measure the effects of these sleep manipulations, researchers administered 30-minute computer-based assessments that measured things like attention span and reaction time every 2 hours while the subjects were awake.
Those whose sleep had been restricted were found to have a shortened attention span, impaired alertness and reduced reaction time. But their cognitive functioning returned to normal range after just one full night of sleep.
The study also showed, not surprisingly, that people who had no sleep during the experiment performed significantly worse than normal.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/08/02/tired-on-mondays-sleep-more-on-weekends/
Â
Related Posts
- Other posts by John M Grohol PsyD (RSS Feed)
- Brief Treatment for Insomnia
- Too Tired for Words
- Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
- Too much stress to sleep? Try scheduling better
Seven hours sleep a night best for health
Fewer than seven hours a night linked to heart disease
2 Aug, 2010 09:00 am GMT
People who regularly sleep more or fewer than seven hours a night could be increasing their risk of heart disease, new research found.
A study of more than 30,000 adults found that cardiovascular disease – angina, heart attack and strokes – was twice as likely to occur in people who slept for less than seven hours a night compared with those who slept for seven hours.
In the study, participants were asked to fill in questionaires about their health and lifestyle, including questions about their sleep patterns.
People who slept for fewer than five hours a night had double the risk of developing heart disease compared to those who got a good seven hours.
The findings showed the risk was highest in women, and in those over the age of 60.
Sleeping for more than seven hours was also shown to be associated with an increased, but less dramatic risk, as people who slept for more than nine hours a day were one and a half times more likely to develop heart disease.
Although the researchers could not explain why too much or too little sleep could affect the health of your heart, they suggested that short sleep duration may be related to changes in the body’s metabolism and hormonal functions.
Sleep deprivation is associated with impaired glucose tolerance, reduced insulin sensitivity and elevated blood pressure, all of which increase the risk of hardening of the arteries, they said.
Long sleep duration may be related to an underlying sleep-related breathing disorder or poor sleep quality, researchers said.
“Sleep disturbances may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease even among apparently healthy subjects,” said study leader Dr Anoop Shankar from the Department of Community Medicine at West Virginia University.
“Our study findings may have important clinical and public health implications, such as screening for changes in sleep duration by primary care physicians as a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease, or initiating public health initiatives focussing on improving sleep quality and quantity,” Dr Shankar added.
The findings are published in the journal Sleep.
Tired on Mondays? Sleep More on Weekends
If you’re feeling especially tired today — and it’s Monday — it may be because you didn’t get your normal recharge of sleep this past weekend.
So says a new study published in the journal Sleep by David Dinges and his colleagues.
Researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the results of a sleep deprivation study on 159 healthy, middle-aged adults.
A group of 142 participants were sleep-deprived by allowing them only four hours of sleep for 5 consecutive nights. But before the sleep deprivation, these subjects were first given two nights of 10-hour sleep periods, to ensure all participants started at similar sleep levels.
They were then allowed randomized doses of recovery sleep ranging from zero hours to 10 hours for per night.
The other 17 participants in the study spent 10 hours in bed on all nights.
To measure the effects of these sleep manipulations, researchers administered 30-minute computer-based assessments that measured things like attention span and reaction time every 2 hours while the subjects were awake.
Those whose sleep had been restricted were found to have a shortened attention span, impaired alertness and reduced reaction time. But their cognitive functioning returned to normal range after just one full night of sleep.
The study also showed, not surprisingly, that people who had no sleep during the experiment performed significantly worse than normal.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/08/02/tired-on-mondays-sleep-more-on-weekends/
Related Posts
- Other posts by John M Grohol PsyD (RSS Feed)
- Brief Treatment for Insomnia
- Too Tired for Words
- Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
- Too much stress to sleep? Try scheduling better
 
Article Date: 30 Jul 2010 – 4:00 PDT
John Moloney T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for Disability and Mental Health announced the first round of grants, totalling over 2.6m euros, awarded by the Genio Trust to support transition from institutional to personalised models of care in disability and mental health services. These grants follow the decision by the Minister in December 2009 regarding to allocate 3m euros of innovation health funding to the Trust for a special fund designed to encourage innovative, personalised supports which offer better opportunities to people with disabilities and mental ill health to reach their full potential.
“The Genio Trust is a leading example of partnership between Government and philanthropy, developed with the support of The Atlantic Philanthropies, my Office for Disability and Mental Health in the Department of Health & Children and the HSE.”, the Minister said. In his announcement Minister Moloney emphasised that “The service reforms which will be facilitated by the Genio Trust are fully in line with the objectives of Government policy as set out in A Vision for Change and with the objectives of the National Disability Strategy.”
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196351.php
Â
Article Date: 30 Jul 2010 – 4:00 PDT
John Moloney T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for Disability and Mental Health announced the first round of grants, totalling over 2.6m euros, awarded by the Genio Trust to support transition from institutional to personalised models of care in disability and mental health services. These grants follow the decision by the Minister in December 2009 regarding to allocate 3m euros of innovation health funding to the Trust for a special fund designed to encourage innovative, personalised supports which offer better opportunities to people with disabilities and mental ill health to reach their full potential.
“The Genio Trust is a leading example of partnership between Government and philanthropy, developed with the support of The Atlantic Philanthropies, my Office for Disability and Mental Health in the Department of Health & Children and the HSE.”, the Minister said. In his announcement Minister Moloney emphasised that “The service reforms which will be facilitated by the Genio Trust are fully in line with the objectives of Government policy as set out in A Vision for Change and with the objectives of the National Disability Strategy.”
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196351.php
Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Jody Smith, creator of the website www.ncubator.ca, who spent 15 years losing the battle against Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Three years ago, she found treatment that worked for her and is making a comeback. In the process, she’s helping a lot of people. (You can check out her blog, “ncubator†by clicking here.)
You tried many treatments and finally you got there. What worked?
Jody: My naturopath believed that my liver needed relief from its toxic load, and my immune system needed building up.
She put me on a tincture with natural antivirals and adaptogens and vitamins in it, and put me on omega3 oil.
I’d gone low carb some years before which had made quite a difference.
I did dry skin brushing with a loofah, to help lymph move better (removing toxins) and sinus lavage (water up the nose to cleanse sinuses) and juicing (for nutrients to absorb better in a weakened gastrointestinal tract).
Vitamin D helped with orthostatic intolerance and vertigo in noticeable ways. Most of us are deficient of Vitamin D.
Acupuncture once a month keeps pain levels down in my arms and gives my life force a noticeable boost.
Rescue Remedy is made from flowers and helps ease physiologically-triggered anxiety attacks and pain, and also is a safe sleep aid. Valerian and melatonin are other sleep aids.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/07/30/recovering-from-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-cfs/
Related Posts
Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Jody Smith, creator of the website www.ncubator.ca, who spent 15 years losing the battle against Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Three years ago, she found treatment that worked for her and is making a comeback. In the process, she’s helping a lot of people. (You can check out her blog, “ncubator†by clicking here.)
You tried many treatments and finally you got there. What worked?
Jody: My naturopath believed that my liver needed relief from its toxic load, and my immune system needed building up.
She put me on a tincture with natural antivirals and adaptogens and vitamins in it, and put me on omega3 oil.
I’d gone low carb some years before which had made quite a difference.
I did dry skin brushing with a loofah, to help lymph move better (removing toxins) and sinus lavage (water up the nose to cleanse sinuses) and juicing (for nutrients to absorb better in a weakened gastrointestinal tract).
Vitamin D helped with orthostatic intolerance and vertigo in noticeable ways. Most of us are deficient of Vitamin D.
Acupuncture once a month keeps pain levels down in my arms and gives my life force a noticeable boost.
Rescue Remedy is made from flowers and helps ease physiologically-triggered anxiety attacks and pain, and also is a safe sleep aid. Valerian and melatonin are other sleep aids.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/07/30/recovering-from-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-cfs/
Related Posts
 
Continuing on the topic of attachment and Personality Disorders, a paper by Fonagy and Bateman published in the Journal of Personality Disorders in 2008 recently caught my eye. As mentioned previously, to date, we still don’t quite know what causes Personality Disorders. On several occasions, I have mentioned the fact that a large number of people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) have experienced childhood abuse or trauma, but that not everyone who had these adverse experiences necessarily develops BPD.  In an attempt to formulate a model of how Borderline Personality Disorder develops, Fonagy and Bateman use attachment theory and the concept of mentalization in order to bring together insights from biological as well as psychological research on the topic. Â
The main idea posited by Fonagy and Bateman is that people with BPD have weaknesses in their ability to mentalize, that is, to understand their own and others’ internal states and motivation. This capacity to mentalize, according to the authors, develops within the context of early attachment relationships. Fonagy and Bateman emphasize that any successful treatment of BPD has to stimulate the capacity to mentalize in one form or another.
Read in Full:Â http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=39073&cn=8