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The Latent Structure of Interpersonal Problems: Validity of Dimensional, Categorical, and Hybrid Models

Interpersonal problems are key transdiagnostic constructs in psychopathology. In the past, investigators have neglected the importance of operationalizing interpersonal problems according to their latent structure by using divergent representations of the construct: (a) computing scores for severity...

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Autores principales: Wendt, Leon P., Wright, Aidan G. C., Pilkonis, Paul A., Nolte, Tobias, Fonagy, Peter, Montague, P. Read, Benecke, Cord, Krieger, Tobias, Zimmermann, Johannes
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Psychological Association 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6816327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31556632
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000460
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author Wendt, Leon P.
Wright, Aidan G. C.
Pilkonis, Paul A.
Nolte, Tobias
Fonagy, Peter
Montague, P. Read
Benecke, Cord
Krieger, Tobias
Zimmermann, Johannes
author_facet Wendt, Leon P.
Wright, Aidan G. C.
Pilkonis, Paul A.
Nolte, Tobias
Fonagy, Peter
Montague, P. Read
Benecke, Cord
Krieger, Tobias
Zimmermann, Johannes
author_sort Wendt, Leon P.
collection PubMed
description Interpersonal problems are key transdiagnostic constructs in psychopathology. In the past, investigators have neglected the importance of operationalizing interpersonal problems according to their latent structure by using divergent representations of the construct: (a) computing scores for severity, agency, and communion (“dimensional approach”), (b) classifying persons into subgroups with respect to their interpersonal profile (“categorical approach”). This hinders cumulative research on interpersonal problems, because findings cannot be integrated both from a conceptual and a statistical point of view. We provide a comprehensive evaluation of interpersonal problems by enlisting several large samples (Ns = 5,400, 491, 656, and 712) to estimate a set of latent variable candidate models, covering the spectrum of purely dimensional (i.e., confirmatory factor analysis using Gaussian and nonnormal latent t-distributions), hybrid (i.e., semiparametric factor analysis), and purely categorical approaches (latent class analysis). Statistical models were compared with regard to their structural validity, as evaluated by model fit (corrected Akaike’s information criterion and the Bayesian information criterion), and their concurrent validity, as defined by the models’ ability to predict relevant external variables. Across samples, the fully dimensional model performed best in terms of model fit, prediction, robustness, and parsimony. We found scant evidence that categorical and hybrid models provide incremental value for understanding interpersonal problems. Our results indicate that the latent structure of interpersonal problems is best represented by continuous dimensions, especially when one allows for nonnormal latent distributions.
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spelling pubmed-68163272019-11-05 The Latent Structure of Interpersonal Problems: Validity of Dimensional, Categorical, and Hybrid Models Wendt, Leon P. Wright, Aidan G. C. Pilkonis, Paul A. Nolte, Tobias Fonagy, Peter Montague, P. Read Benecke, Cord Krieger, Tobias Zimmermann, Johannes J Abnorm Psychol Externalizing Disorders Interpersonal problems are key transdiagnostic constructs in psychopathology. In the past, investigators have neglected the importance of operationalizing interpersonal problems according to their latent structure by using divergent representations of the construct: (a) computing scores for severity, agency, and communion (“dimensional approach”), (b) classifying persons into subgroups with respect to their interpersonal profile (“categorical approach”). This hinders cumulative research on interpersonal problems, because findings cannot be integrated both from a conceptual and a statistical point of view. We provide a comprehensive evaluation of interpersonal problems by enlisting several large samples (Ns = 5,400, 491, 656, and 712) to estimate a set of latent variable candidate models, covering the spectrum of purely dimensional (i.e., confirmatory factor analysis using Gaussian and nonnormal latent t-distributions), hybrid (i.e., semiparametric factor analysis), and purely categorical approaches (latent class analysis). Statistical models were compared with regard to their structural validity, as evaluated by model fit (corrected Akaike’s information criterion and the Bayesian information criterion), and their concurrent validity, as defined by the models’ ability to predict relevant external variables. Across samples, the fully dimensional model performed best in terms of model fit, prediction, robustness, and parsimony. We found scant evidence that categorical and hybrid models provide incremental value for understanding interpersonal problems. Our results indicate that the latent structure of interpersonal problems is best represented by continuous dimensions, especially when one allows for nonnormal latent distributions. American Psychological Association 2019-09-26 2019-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6816327/ /pubmed/31556632 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000460 Text en © 2019 The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article has been published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s). Author(s) grant(s) the American Psychological Association the exclusive right to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.
spellingShingle Externalizing Disorders
Wendt, Leon P.
Wright, Aidan G. C.
Pilkonis, Paul A.
Nolte, Tobias
Fonagy, Peter
Montague, P. Read
Benecke, Cord
Krieger, Tobias
Zimmermann, Johannes
The Latent Structure of Interpersonal Problems: Validity of Dimensional, Categorical, and Hybrid Models
title The Latent Structure of Interpersonal Problems: Validity of Dimensional, Categorical, and Hybrid Models
title_full The Latent Structure of Interpersonal Problems: Validity of Dimensional, Categorical, and Hybrid Models
title_fullStr The Latent Structure of Interpersonal Problems: Validity of Dimensional, Categorical, and Hybrid Models
title_full_unstemmed The Latent Structure of Interpersonal Problems: Validity of Dimensional, Categorical, and Hybrid Models
title_short The Latent Structure of Interpersonal Problems: Validity of Dimensional, Categorical, and Hybrid Models
title_sort latent structure of interpersonal problems: validity of dimensional, categorical, and hybrid models
topic Externalizing Disorders
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6816327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31556632
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000460
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