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Delineating physiologic defensive reactivity in the domain of self-report: phenotypic and etiologic structure of dispositional fear

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2011

M. D. Kramer ,
C. J. Patrick ,
R. F. Krueger  and
M. Gasperi
M. D. Kramer
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN USA
C. J. Patrick*
Affiliation:
Florida State University, Department of Psychology, Tallahassee, FL, USA
R. F. Krueger
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN USA
M. Gasperi
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr C. J. Patrick, Florida State University, Department of Psychology, 1107 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4301, USA. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Individual differences in fear and fearlessness have been investigated at their extremes in relation to markedly different forms of psychopathology – anxiety disorders and psychopathy, respectively. A documented neural substrate of fear-related traits and disorders is defensive reactivity as reflected in aversive startle potentiation (ASP).

Method

The current study extended prior work by characterizing, in a sample of adult twins from the community (n=2511), the phenotypic and etiologic structure of self-report measures of fear and fearlessness known to be associated with ASP.

Results

Analyses revealed a hierarchical structure to the trait fear domain, with an overarching, bipolar fear/fearlessness dimension saturating each measure in this domain, and subfactors labeled ‘distress,’ ‘stimulation seeking’ and ‘sociability’ accounting for additional variance in particular measures. The structure of genetic and non-shared environmental associations among the measures closely mirrored the phenotypic structure of the domain.

Conclusions

The findings have implications for proposals to reconceptualize psychopathology in neurobiological terms.

Keywords

Aversive startle potentiationfearpersonality
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 42 , Issue 6 , June 2012 , pp. 1305 - 1320
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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