Hem=>Personal=>Britt af Klinteberg

Britt af Klinteberg

FD, professor

Current Research Interests

The main research interest is in neuropsychology and the interplay of biological and psychological factors in the development of psychosocial disorders. The research work includes studies of behavioral and personality variables, as well as neuropsychological and psychobiological variables connected with 'disinhibitory psychopathology'.

The focus is on developing theories concerning the interaction between individual, partly sex-differentiated, psychobiological vulnerability and different forms of psychosocial stress. The purpose is to identify risk indicators, which form individual 'vulnerability' patterns. Some studies investigate the lesser known female patterns and on violent and criminal behavior. In a broader perspective, knowledge about these patterns might be of importance in the evaluating of the individual benefit of treatment programs.

Britt af Klinteberg is also connected to the Centre of Health Equity Studies - see www.chess.su.se and affiliated Professor of Psychology, Department of Women and Child Health, Karolinska Institutet. She is member of the Swedish Government's advisory board on alcohol, narcotics, doping and tobacco (ANT-rådet), 2008- ; member of the Scientific Committee for the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, 2007- ; Associate editor of the Journal of Individual Differences, 2004-; has been Executive Committee member of the International Society for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders, 2004-2007; and CAN Prize Committee member, 2001-2006. Recently she finalized her six years of service as Ordinary Board member of the Alcohol Research Council of the Swedish Alcohol Retailing Monopoly; and her two years as Chairman of the Swedish Association of Alcohol and Drug Research, 2003 - 2005, see www.sad.forsk.se. She is responsible for the database Young Lawbreakers as Adults (YLA) originating from a project initiated in 1956 by the Swedish Ministry of Justice.

International publications (referee reviewed) (2005 - 2009):

Väfors Fritz, M., Rajaleid, K., Hemström, Ö., & af Klinteberg, B. (Accepted). Quality of Life - toward an understanding of individuals with psychopathic tendencies. Personality and Mental Health.

Moran, P., af Klinteberg, B., Batty, D., & Vågerö, D. (Accepted). Childhood intelligence predicts hospitalisation with personality disorder in adulthood. Journal of Personality Disorders.

Eklund, J. E., & af Klinteberg, B. (2009). Alcohol use and patterns of delinquent behaviour in male and female adolescents. Alcohol & Alcoholism, pp.1-8, doi. 10.1093/alcalc/agn107.

Ahrén-Moonga, J.,af Klinteberg B., & Koupil, I. (2008). Mothers' social background and risk of eating disorders in daughters (abstract). European Journal of Public Health 2008;18 (Suppl 1): 111-112.

Väfors Fritz, M., Ruchkin, V., Koposov, R., & af Klinteberg, B. (2008). Antisocial Process Screening Devise: Validation on a Russian sample of juvenile delinquents with the emphasis on the role of personality and parental rearing. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2008.08.003.

af Klinteberg, B., Johansson, S.-E., Gacono, C., & Alm, P. O. (2008). Projective risk variables in early adolescence and subsequent disinhibitory psychopathology. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31, 210-218, doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2008.04.001.

Rydén-Lodi, B., Burk, W. J., Stattin, H. & af Klinteberg, B. (2008). Personality and reconviction in crime: A three-year follow-up study of male criminal recidivists. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 7(1), 83-94.

Väfors Fritz, M., Wiklund, G., Koposov, R., af Klinteberg, B. , & Ruchkin, V. (2008). Psychopathy and violence in juvenile delinquents: What are the associated factors? International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31, 272-279, doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2008.04.010.

Daud, A., af Klinteberg, B. & Rydelius, P. A. (2008). Resilience and vulnerability among refugee children of traumatized and non-traumatized parents. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 2, 7, doi: 10.1186/1753-2000-2-7.

Ahrén Moonga, J., Holmgren, S., von Knorring, L., & af Klinteberg, B. (2008). Personality traits and self-injury behaviour in patients with eating disorders. European Eating Disorder Review, doi: 10.1002/erv.860.

Haeffel, G., Getchell, M., Koposov, R., Yrigollen, C., DeYoung, C., af Klinteberg, B., Oreland, L., Ruchkin, V., & Grigorenko, E. (2008). Association among polymorphisms in the dopamine transporter gene and depression: Evidence for a gene-environment interaction in a sample of juvenile detainees. Psychological Science,19 (1), 62-69.

Daud, A., af Klinteberg, B. & Rydelius, P. A. (2008). Trauma, PTSD and personality: the relationship between prolonged traumatisation and personality impairment. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 20,1, doi: 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2007.00532.x.

Grigorenko, E. L., DeYoung, C. G., Getchell, M., Haeffel, G. J., af Klinteberg, B., Koposov, R. A., Oreland, L. , Pakstis, A. J., Ruchkin, V. V., Yrigollen, C. M. (2007). Exploring interactive effects of genes and environments in etiology of individual differences in reading comprehension, Development and Psychopathology,19,1089-1103.

Freidenfelt, J. & af Klinteberg, B. (2007). Exploring adult personality and psychopathy tendencies in former childhood hyperactive delinquent males. Journal of Individual Differences, 28(1), 27-36.

Eklund, J. M. & af Klinteberg, B. (2006). Stability and change in criminal behavior: A prospective study of young male lawbreakers and controls. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 5 (1), 83-95. Eklund, J. M. & af Klinteberg, B. (2005). Personality characteristics as risk indications of alcohol use and violent behaviour in male and female adolescents. Journal of Individual Differences, 26(2), 63-73.

Adler, N., Glassér, C., & af Klinteberg, B. (2005). A collaborative research effort to bridge boundaries and support deviant youths in contemporary welfare systems. European Management Review, 2(1), 88-99.

Eklund, J., Alm, P. O. & af Klinteberg, B. (2005). Monoamine oxidase activity and tri-iodothyronine level in violent offenders with early behavioural problems, Neuropsychobiology, 52(3), 122-129, doi: 10.1159/000087557.

Ruchkin, V. V., Koposov, R. A., af Klinteberg, B., Oreland, L., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2005). Platelet MAO-B, personality, and psychopathology, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114(3), 477-482.

National publications (2005 - 2008):

af Klinteberg, B. (2008). Tidiga problembeteenden. In S. Andréasson (Ed.), Narkotikan i Sverige: Metoder för förebyggande arbete - en kunskapsöversikt (pp. 107-117). Statens folkhälsoinstitut, R 2008:23. Sundbyberg: Alfa Print.

af Klinteberg, B. (2006). Monoaminerga mekanismer kopplade till personlighet och olika former av psykosocial störningsbild, såsom missbruk och andra beteendestörningar. In Hur kan man minska nyrekrytering? (pp. 23-27). Rapport nr 17. Stockholm: Mobilisering mot Narkotika.

Rydén-Lodi, B., Stattin, H., & af Klinteberg, B. (2005). Återfallsförbrytare - vilka var de? Några bakgrundsfaktorers inverkan på återfall i brott. Forskningskommitténs rapportserie, Rapport 16. Norrköping: Kriminalvårdsstyrelsen, Förlaget.

Find Britt af Klinteberg's recent abstracts in the Annual Report database.

Organiser of international symposia and presentations (2006-2008, a selection):

• The World Psychiatric Association Conference, Prag, Sept 2008. Invited presentation 'Childhood behavior as a method of classification of impulse control disturbances in adulthood' (Org FG Moeller).
  
  
• The 16th EAPP Conference, Tartu, Estonia, July 2008. Symposia organizer (J Hennig and B af Klinteberg) and presentation 'Prospectively rated childhood risk for antisocial behaviour is related to subsequent disinhibition and indications of serotonergic deficits'.
  
  
• The IACAPAP Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, May, 2008. Invited presentation 'Early adolescent projective risk indicators of antisocial behaviour as related to psychopathy traits, violence and smoking' (Org Theo Doreleijer).
  
  
• The 13th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual differences (ISSID), Giessen, Germany, July 2007, symposium in honour of Prof Ernest Barratt (Org. P Russo); and at the International Conference 'Boris Gerasimovich Ananiev - the prominent psychologist of 20th century', St Petersburg, Russia, October, 2007, invited presentation 'The role of impulsivity in different forms of psychosocial disturbances'.
  
  
• The Stockholm Criminology Symposium, Stockholm, June, 2007, ISC at the Stockholm University. Factors influencing criminal activity behaviour (Org and chair B af Klinteberg) and presenter of 'Do personality characteristics predict frequency of recidivism into prison?'
  
  
• Cooperation Conference on Drugs and Health, Stockholm University, April 2007. St Petersburg State University invited by Stockholm University, exchange of research experiences within the Drug and Health area (Org. G Dahl, B af Klinteberg, Å Nagrelius).
  
  
• The International Society for the Study of Impulsivity (ISRI) Regional Workshop France, Paris, September, 2006 (Org. B af Klinteberg, F J Baylé, H Caci) Impulsivity Research: New Data and Future Perspectives and presenter of 'Pro-bullying attitudes among incarcerated juvenile offenders: The relation to delinquency, aggression, psychopathy and violence'.
  
  

Summaries of ongoing research

Metabolism, Neuropsychological Functioning and Personality in Patients with Eating Disorders (af Klinteberg/Ahrén-Moonga/Holmgren/Oreland/von Knorring).
This is a project in collaboration with Uppsala University Hospital, Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, on underlying mechanisms behind eating disorders. Mechanisms of particular interest are those concerning metabolism and biochemical functions, with emphasis on the serotonergic turnover. Moreover, intraindividual differences in neuropsychological functioning, cognitive style and personality are studied.

Om ungdomars risktagande med fokus på hur riskfaktorer samspelar hos flickor och pojkar i utvecklingen av risk- och missbruk (B af Klinteberg, J Eklund, J Freidenfelt & P-A Rydelius)
Det övergripande syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om riskfaktorer ur ett genusperspektiv, att öka förståelsen för hur problem uppstår och vad man kan göra för att förhindra ett problematiskt drickande och andra problembeteenden. Studien avser att undersöka självskattat normbrytande beteende, våldsbeteende och alkoholanvändning i en grupp skolungdomar över tid. Projektet avser också att studera samspelande faktorer till låg skolprestation (skolk, riskdrickande, våld) liksom om upplevelsen av stress, ångest och impulskontrollstörningar kan ligga bakom ett ökat riskdrickande bland flickor och pojkar. Studien är en uppföljning av av en basundersökning som genomfördes 2004, som bland annat visade att uppmärksamhetsproblem och utagerande beteende i tidig barndom är relaterade till senare problem i livet, som t ex alkoholmissbruk. Utifrån tidigare forskning kan man förvänta sig att dessa beteenden generellt sett är mindre vanligt förekommande och av mindre allvarlighetsgrad hos flickor jämfört med hos pojkar, men att de flickor som uppvisar dessa beteenden avviker mer i personlighet än vad motsvarande grupp pojkar gör. Att riskbeteenden och riskfaktorer har stor betydelse för utvecklingen av ett alkoholberoende, dvs kan göra en individ mer disponerad för missbruk och ohälsa, betraktas numera som en självklarhet och är föremål för omfattande forskning. Mycket mindre uppmärksamhet ägnas åt på vilket sätt denna bakgrund är av betydelse för individer i en normalpopulation, och om det föreligger skilda generellt förekommande mönster av riskfaktorer för flickor/kvinnor respektive pojkar/män.

Monoaminergic mechanisms as related to alcohol/drug abuse and other behavior disturbances (af Klinteberg/Wiklund/Oreland).
The fundamental aim of the proposed research is to gain further knowledge with respect to possible relationships between behavior/personality dimensions and the genetic mechanisms underlying the development of specific components of the central nervous system making the individual more susceptible for different forms of dependence. By investigating cross-cultural behavior/personality patterns and genetic regulation of parts of the monoamine systems in the CNS, we hope to extend our understanding of the mechanisms regulating the development of human personality and, thereby, gain further insight into the vulnerability for the development of behavior and personality disorders and substance abuse.

Financial Support

• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• The Alcohol Research Council of the Swedish Alcohol Retailing Monopoly
• The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Sweden
• The Mobilizing against Drugs Committee, Sweden
• The Kempe-Carlgrenska Foundation

International Collaboration

• Prof. Elena Grigorenko, Yale University, Connecticut, USA; and Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
• Assoc prof Vladislav Ruchkin, Yale University School of Medicine, USA; and Karolinska Institute.
• Assoc prof Juliana Granskaya, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg, Russia, within the theme 'Health psychology and prevention of risk behavior'.