Elizabeth Aslinger | Yale University (original) (raw)

Papers by Elizabeth Aslinger

Daily stress and hassles refers to quotidian adversity and the friction of moving through life. T... more Daily stress and hassles refers to quotidian adversity and the friction of moving through life. They have proved to be strongly associated with mental health, and serve as a proximal catalyst and outcome of symptomatology. Despite their intuitive and accessible nature, the constructs of daily hassles and stress pose several significant challenges in their conceptualization and measurement. This chapter reviews historical and contemporary approaches to measuring and assessing daily stress and hassles. Conceptual and definitional issues are covered, followed by three generations of daily stress assessment: cross-sectional, ambulatory assessment, and passive sensing. A selective summary is provided of research on daily stress as it relates to mental health.

In the present study, we compare factor analytic models of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ... more In the present study, we compare factor analytic models of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in terms of their fit and predictive utility with regard to external correlates such as comorbid diagnoses and other psychosocial outcomes. Competing models were compared and validated in an epidemiological dataset (N = 23,936). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) using models from prior literature with four through seven factor solutions were conducted. The seven factor Hybrid model, the six-factor Anhedonia model, and the six-factor Externalizing Behaviors model were the first, second, and third best-fitting models, respectively; however, the inconsistency of associations with external correlates and high factor intercorrelations suggested that higher-factor solutions may sacrifice parsimony for minimal gains in utility. The Anhedonia and Hybrid models’ separate Anhedonia and Negative Affect factors (a core difference from other models) demonstrated limited utility in differentially associating with distinct constructs under the internalizing umbrella. Anhedonia and Negative Affect also correlated highly with each other and nearly perfectly with the factors composed of their combined symptoms (e.g. the Externalizing Behaviors model’s Numbing factor), suggesting a "lumped" factor would be more parsimonious. The Externalizing Behaviors model showed predictive utility in accounting for externalizing comorbidities as well as differentiating among constructs within the internalizing spectrum; however, it lacked robust associations with externalizing behavioral outcomes such as frequency and quantity of drinking. These results give reason for concern that predominant structural models of PTSD may not be adequate for discriminating among or predicting functional outcomes related to PTSD symptomatology in trauma-exposed populations.

American Psychological Association eBooks, 2023

Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Jul 1, 2018

Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, May 1, 2022

Wide empirical support exists for 2 aspects of narcissism-grandiosity and vulnerability. Hostilit... more Wide empirical support exists for 2 aspects of narcissism-grandiosity and vulnerability. Hostility is a form of interpersonal antagonism, which is considered central to narcissism broadly. Though it has often been subsumed by the concept of narcissistic grandiosity, interpersonal antagonism is associated with vulnerability as well. Rejection represents an interpersonal stressor that evokes hostility to a greater degree in those high in narcissism, with mixed evidence regarding whether it stems from threat to one's egotism (grandiosity) or low self-esteem (vulnerability). Therefore, investigating the associations between narcissistic dimensions and individuals' trajectories of hostility leading up to and following rejection may provide a basis for a more unified conceptualization. In this study, we leverage the wide range of narcissistic expression displayed in a combined sample of borderline personality disorder (N = 56) and community (N = 60) individuals who completed ambulatory assessments approximately 6 times per day for 21 consecutive days. We examine whether narcissistic vulnerability and grandiosity, as measured by NEO Personality Inventory facet combinations constructed based on the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory, moderate trajectories and overall levels of hostility surrounding self-reported interpersonal rejections. Grandiosity and vulnerability were independently positively associated with a faster rise in hostility leading up to rejection; however, greater grandiosity was uniquely associated with a greater spike in hostility at the occasion of rejection and subsequent faster recovery. These results are consistent with both the idea that grandiosity is proportionately more central to interpersonal antagonism and that antagonism serves as a bridge, connecting and reinforcing both narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Routledge eBooks, Jul 20, 2017

The Routledge Handbook of Neuroethics, 2017

We investigated the latent structure of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) by comparing dime... more We investigated the latent structure of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) by comparing dimensional, hybrid, and categorical latent variable models, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), non-parametric (NP-FA) and semi-parametric factor analysis (SP-FA), and latent class analysis, respectively. We first explored these models in a clinical sample, and then pre-registered replication analyses in four additional datasets (with national, undergraduate, community, and mixed community/clinical samples) to test whether the best fitting model would generalize across different datasets with different sample compositions. A one-factor CFA outperformed categorical models in fit and reliability, suggesting the criteria do not serve to distinguish a “narcissist” class or subtypes; rather, a “narcissistic” dimension underlies the NPD construct. The CFA also outperformed hybrid models, indicating that people fall within the same continuous distribution, rather than composing homogenous gr...

International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 2018

While loss of socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to suicidal behavior, it is unclear whet... more While loss of socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to suicidal behavior, it is unclear whether this experience is merely a downstream effect of psychopathology ("downward drift"), a sign of hardship, or an independent psychological contributor to suicide risk. We examined the association between the subjective experience of status loss and suicidal behavior and ideation in old age, while accounting for potential confounders. We were also interested in whether status loss was associated with mere thoughts of suicide vs. suicidal behavior. Fifty older (55+) depressed suicide attempters, 29 depressed suicide ideators with no history of attempted suicide, 38 nonsuicidal depressed participants, and 45 nonpsychiatric controls underwent detailed clinical characterization and reported their current and highest lifetime SES. Suicide attempters were more likely to report a decline in their SES compared to healthy controls and nonsuicidal depressed older adults, while not diffe...

On November 11, 2007, as the 2008 U.S. presidential election was kicking into high gear, the New ... more On November 11, 2007, as the 2008 U.S. presidential election was kicking into high gear, the New York Times ran a now infamous op-ed column “This is your brain on politics” (Iacoboni et al., 2007). The author team was led by Marco Iacoboni, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles. Iacoboni and his coinvestigators hoped to harness the power of brain-imaging technology, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in particular, to ascertain the political preferences of a sample of undecided voters. Like many proponents of the use of fMRI for real-world applications, they began with the assumption that brain-imaging data could help them discern preferences that prospective voters are either unable or unwilling to acknowledge. “Our results reveal some voter impressions on which this election may well turn,” the scientists proclaimed. As revealed by fMRI, voters’ brains ostensibly displayed marked ambivalence toward Hillary Clinton; while viewing her, th...

The Oxford Handbook of Stress and Mental Health, 2019

Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment

Objective: While loss of socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to suicidal behavior, it is u... more Objective: While loss of socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to suicidal behavior, it is unclear whether this experience is merely a downstream effect of psychopathology (“downward drift”), a sign of hardship, or an independent psychological contributor to suicide risk. We examined the association between the subjective experience of status loss and suicidal behavior and ideation in old age, while accounting for potential confounders. We were also interested in whether status loss was associated with mere thoughts of suicide vs. suicidal behavior.
Methods: Fifty older (55+) depressed suicide attempters, 29 depressed suicide ideators with no history of attempted suicide, 38 nonsuicidal depressed participants, and 45 nonpsychiatric controls underwent detailed clinical characterization and reported their current and highest lifetime SES.
Results: Suicide attempters were more likely to report a decline in their SES compared to healthy controls and nonsuicidal depressed older adults, while not differing from suicide ideators. This difference was not explained by objective predictors of SES, including education, financial difficulties, and the presence of addiction. Interestingly, while the current SES of suicide attempters was much lower than that of comparison groups, their reported highest lifetime SES was just as high, despite the differences in education.
Conclusion: In older adults, the experience of status loss is associated with contemplated and attempted suicide even after accounting for objective indicators of social status and psychopathology. It is possible that suicidal individuals retrospectively inflate their previous status, making their current standing appear even worse by comparison.

Routledge Handbook of Neuroethics, 2017