Wendt, LP;
Wright, AGC;
Pilkonis, PA;
Nolte, T;
Fonagy, P;
Montague, PR;
Benecke, C;
... Zimmermann, J; + view all
(2019)
The latent structure of interpersonal problems: validity of dimensional, categorical and hybrid models.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
, 128
(8)
pp. 823-839.
10.1037/abn0000460.
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Abstract
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 = 5400, 491, 656, 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., semi-parametric 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 non-normal latent distributions.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The latent structure of interpersonal problems: validity of dimensional, categorical and hybrid models |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1037/abn0000460 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000460 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | 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. |
| Keywords: | Interpersonal problems, factor mixture modeling, non-normal factor distribution, confirmatory factor analysis, latent class analysis |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10076188 |
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