Abstract
Research across age groups has consistently indicated that psychopathology has a general factor structure such that a broad latent dimension (or p factor) captures variance common to all mental disorders as well as specific internalizing and externalizing factors. This research has found that the p factor overlaps substantially with trait negative emotionality (or neuroticism). However, less is known about the psychological substance of the specific factors of the general psychopathology model or how lower-order facets of neuroticism may relate to each psychopathology factor. We investigated the structure of neuroticism and psychopathology as well as associations between these domains using multimethod assessments in a sample of 695 preadolescent children. We found that both psychopathology and neuroticism may be well characterized by bifactor models and that there was substantial overlap between psychopathology (p) and neuroticism (n) general factors as well as between specific factors (Internalizing with Fear, Externalizing with Irritability).
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1266-1284 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Clinical Psychological Science |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1 2019 |
Funding
Brandes Cassandra M. Herzhoff Kathrin Smack Avanté J. Tackett Jennifer L. Department of Psychology, Northwestern University Cassandra M. Brandes, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Swift Hall 102, 2029 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL 60208 E-mail: [email protected] 9 2019 2167702619859332 3 9 2018 10 3 2019 © The Author(s) 2019 2019 Association for Psychological Science Research across age groups has consistently indicated that psychopathology has a general factor structure such that a broad latent dimension (or p factor) captures variance common to all mental disorders as well as specific internalizing and externalizing factors. This research has found that the p factor overlaps substantially with trait negative emotionality (or neuroticism). However, less is known about the psychological substance of the specific factors of the general psychopathology model or how lower-order facets of neuroticism may relate to each psychopathology factor. We investigated the structure of neuroticism and psychopathology as well as associations between these domains using multimethod assessments in a sample of 695 preadolescent children. We found that both psychopathology and neuroticism may be well characterized by bifactor models and that there was substantial overlap between psychopathology (p) and neuroticism (n) general factors as well as between specific factors (Internalizing with Fear, Externalizing with Irritability). comorbidity neuroticism developmental psychopathology multimethod assessment open data Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000155 special-property open-data edited-state corrected-proof We thank the families who participated in the Child Personality and Behavioral Outcomes Study in both Toronto and Houston. We also thank the members of the Personality Across Development Lab for their assistance with data collection. Action Editor Scott O. Lilienfeld served as action editor for this article. Author Contributions J. L. Tackett and C. M. Brandes developed the concept for the data-analytic project reported here. The studies themselves were conceived of and designed by J. L. Tackett, and data collection was performed by J. L. Tackett, A. J. Smack, and K. Herzhoff. All of the authors performed the data analysis. C. M. Brandes and A. J. Smack drafted the manuscript, and K. Herzhoff, A. J. Smack, and J. L. Tackett provided critical revisions. All of the authors approved the final manuscript for submission. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared that there were no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship or the publication of this article. Funding This research was supported in part by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (J. L. Tackett). Open Practices All data have been made publicly available via Open Science Framework and can be accessed at https://osf.io/bpwf8 . Participants did not consent to individual-level data sharing, but all correlation matrices and descriptives have been posted. All models reported may be fully reproduced using the sample-level data posted. As these data were drawn from two large-scale longitudinal studies that measured many other developmentally relevant constructs (e.g., child life stressors, physical development, parenting style), a complete list of materials cannot be enumerated here. For complete documentation of all measures used in each study, citations for articles using these data sets, measures (as publicly available), and all analytic scripts, see the Open Science Framework page. The complete Open Practices Disclosure for this article can be found at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/2167702619859332 . This article has received the badge for Open Data. More information about the Open Practices badges can be found at https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/badges .
Keywords
- comorbidity
- developmental psychopathology
- multimethod assessment
- neuroticism
- open data
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Psychology
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The p Factor and the n Factor: Associations Between the General Factors of Psychopathology and Neuroticism in Children
Brandes, C. M. (Creator), Herzhoff, K. (Creator), Smack, A. J. (Contributor) & Tackett, J. L. (Creator), SAGE Journals, 2019
DOI: 10.25384/sage.c.4671566, https://sage.figshare.com/collections/The_p_Factor_and_the_n_Factor_Associations_Between_the_General_Factors_of_Psychopathology_and_Neuroticism_in_Children/4671566
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