BACKGROUND Research suggests that substance abusers make more disadvantageous decisions on the simulated gambling task (SGT); such decisions are associated with deviance proneness and antisocial symptoms. This study examines decision making on the SGT in young adults with alcohol dependence who are treatment-naive (TxN). METHODS A total of 116 subjects (58 controls, 58 TxNs) were tested on th...

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Lisa A. Harvey, for her thoughtful, timely, and patient guidance and support. She has intensified my passion for research and is a great role model for me. I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to the members of my committee, Dr. for their helpful comments and suggestions throughout this project. ...

According to previous research, internalizing and externalizing problems tend to be comorbid or co-occur at different ages in development (Angold, Costello, & Erkanli, 1999). The question that this dissertation addresses is how and why internalizing and externalizing problems, two disorders that represent separate forms of psychopathology, co-occur in children. This is an important question for...

Individuals with the short variant of the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region gene are more susceptible than individuals homozygous for the long allele to the effects of stressful life events on risk for internalizing and externalizing problems. We tested whether individual differences in coping style explained this increased risk for problem behavior among youth who were at both ge...

Anxiety disorders and externalizing problems are both associated with substance use disorders. However, the nature of this relationship remains unclear. To examine whether presence of an anxiety disorder changes the association between externalizing problems (conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and substance use disorders, we analyzed d...

On the basis of Quay's (1988a, 1988b, 1993, 1997) model in which the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) are linked to various forms of child psychopathology, predictions were made regarding the relation between inhibitory control and two dimensions of psychopathology: externalizing and internalizing behavior. Inhibitory control was measured using two v...