A topography of 21 phobic fears: network analysis in an epidemiological sample of adult twins.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Few factor analyses and no network analyses have examined the structure of DSM phobic fears or tested the specificity of the relationship between panic disorder and agoraphobic fears.

Methods

Histories of 21 lifetime phobic fears, coded as four-level ordinal variables (no fear to fear with major interference) were assessed at personal interview in 7514 adults from the Virginia Twin Registry. We estimated Gaussian Graphical Models on individual phobic fears; compared network structures of women and men using the Network Comparison Test; used community detection to determine the number and nature of groups in which phobic fears hang together; and validated the anticipated specific relationship between panic disorder and agoraphobia.

Results

All networks were

SUBMITTER: Kendler KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8190176 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature