Premium
Criterion validity of the general factor of psychopathology in a prospective study of girls
Author(s) -
Lahey Benjamin B.,
Rathouz Paul J.,
Keenan Kate,
Stepp Stephanie D.,
Loeber Rolf,
Hipwell Alison E.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/jcpp.12300
Subject(s) - psychopathology , psychology , child psychopathology , developmental psychology , confirmatory factor analysis , factor analysis , variance (accounting) , clinical psychology , developmental psychopathology , structural equation modeling , econometrics , statistics , business , mathematics , accounting , economics
Background The best‐fitting model of the structure of common psychopathology often includes a general factor on which all dimensions of psychopathology load. Such a general factor would be important if it reflects etiologies and mechanisms shared by all dimensions of psychopathology. Nonetheless, a viable alternative explanation is that the general factor is partly or wholly a result of common method variance or other systematic measurement biases. Methods To test this alternative explanation, we extracted general, externalizing, and internalizing factor scores using mother‐reported symptoms across 5–11 years of age in confirmatory factor analyses of data from a representative longitudinal study of 2,450 girls. Independent associations between the three psychopathology factor scores and teacher‐reported criterion variables were estimated in multiple regression, controlling intelligence, and demographic covariates. Results The model including the general factor fit significantly better than a correlated two‐factor (internalizing/externalizing) model. The general factor was robustly and independently associated with all measures of teacher‐reported school functioning concurrently during childhood and prospectively during adolescence. Conclusions These findings weaken the hypothesis that the general factor of psychopathology in childhood is solely a measurement artifact and support further research on the substantive meaning of the general factor.