How Robust Is the p Factor? Using Multitrait-Multimethod Modeling to Inform the Meaning of General Factors of Youth Psychopathology.

ABSTRACT: We used multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) modeling to examine general factors of psychopathology in three samples of youth (Ns = 2119, 303, 592) for whom three informants reported on the youth's psychopathology (e.g., child, parent, teacher). Empirical support for the p-factor diminished in multi-informant models compared with mono-informant models: the correlation between externalizing and internalizing factors decreased and the general factor in bifactor models essentially reflected externalizing. Widely used MTMM-informed approaches for modeling multi-informant data cannot distinguish between competing interpretations of the patterns of effects we observed, including that the p-factor reflects, in part, evaluative consistency bias or that psychopathology manifests diffe

SUBMITTER: Watts AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9454373 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature