Objective

This study examined cross-informant evidence for a general factor of psychopathology (“P”), and a narrower, clinically-oriented dysregulation general factor based on the Dysregulation Profile (“DP”) in a large clinical sample of children and adolescents. We also compared the magnitude of P and DP general factor associations with self-harm and suicidal ideation as an indicator of criterion validity.

Method

Item-wise data from the Child Behavior Checklist (N = 2,934; ages 4-18) were analyzed using confirmatory bifactor modeling and replicated in a supplementary analysis using Youth Self Report data (N = 2,395).

Results

General P and DP bifactor models fit the data better than single-factor and correlated factor models. Cross-informant criterion analyses on a subset of youth (n = 1,552) suggested that whether modeled as latent P or DP, associations with a brief composite index of self-harm and suicidal ideation are essentially of the same magnitude.

Conclusion

Our findings provide novel, large-sample support for the existence of general factors of psychopathology and dysregulation in clinically referred children and adolescents using a standardized rating system of psychopathology symptoms. Moreover, our results provide preliminary evidence that general psychopathology and dysregulation factors are clinically meaningful constructs. In addition, our findings raise the possibility that the DP general factor may serve as an efficient proxy for the general psychopathology factor in future clinical applications. Further efforts are necessary to understand the core empirical meaning of the P factor and to determine how it can be applied to clinical assessment and intervention.

中文翻译：

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“ P”和“ DP”：在临床转诊的儿童和青少年中，检查心理病理和异常调节的症状水平双因素模型

客观的

这项研究检查了大量儿童和青少年临床样本中精神病理学（“ P”）的交叉信息证据，以及基于失调曲线（“ DP”）的狭窄，面向临床的失调一般因素。我们还比较了自残和自杀意念作为标准有效性指标的P和DP一般因素关联的大小。

方法

使用确认性双因素模型分析了儿童行为清单中的逐项数据（N = 2,934； 4-18岁），并使用青年自我报告数据（N = 2,395）在补充分析中进行了复制。

结果

通用的P和DP双因子模型比单因子和相关因子模型更适合数据。对年轻人（n = 1,552）子集的交叉信息标准分析表明，无论是作为潜在的P还是DP建模，具有简短的自我伤害和自杀意念综合指数的关联都具有相同的幅度。

结论

我们的发现为使用心理病理症状标准化评分系统的临床转诊儿童和青少年中心理病理和失调的一般因素的存在提供了新颖的，大样本的支持。此外，我们的结果提供了初步的证据，证明一般的精神病理学和失调因素是具有临床意义的构建物。此外，我们的发现增加了DP总因素可能在未来临床应用中有效替代一般精神病理因素的可能性。需要进一步的努力来理解P因子的核心经验意义，并确定如何将其应用于临床评估和干预。