The latent structure of child depression: a taxometric analysis.

作者信息

Richey J Anthony, Schmidt Norman B, Lonigan Christopher J, Phillips Beth M, Catanzaro Salvatore J, Laurent Jeff, Gerhardstein Rebecca R, Kotov Roman

机构信息

Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.

出版信息

J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2009 Sep;50(9):1147-55. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02085.x. Epub 2009 Apr 14.

BACKGROUND

The current study examined the categorical versus continuous nature of child and adolescent depression among three samples of children and adolescents ranging from 5 to 19 years.

METHODS

Depression was measured using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Indicators derived from the CDI were based on factor analytic research on the CDI and included indices of: 1) social withdrawal, 2) anhedonia, 3) incompetence/maladjustment and 4) negative self-esteem.

RESULTS

Taxometric procedures provided convergent support for the existence of a latent taxon across three independent samples. Internal and external consistency tests as well as Monte Carlo simulations supported the validity of the results.

CONCLUSIONS

Multiple nonredundant procedures and samples were all consistently indicative of taxonicity in child depression.