Characterising the latent structure and organisation of self-reported thoughts, feelings and behaviours in adolescents and young adults

Abstract

Little is known about the underlying relationships between self-reported mental health items measuring both positive and negative emotional and behavioural symptoms at the population level in young people. Improved measurement of the full range of mental well-being and mental illness may aid in understanding the aetiological substrates underlying the development of both mental wellness as well as specific psychiatric diagnoses. A general population sample aged 14 to 24 years completed self-report questionnaires on anxiety, depression, psychotic-like symptoms, obsessionality and well-being. Exploratory and confirmatory factor models for categorical data and latent profile analyses were used to evaluate the structure of both mental wellness and illness items. First order, second order and bifactor structures were evaluated on 118 self-reported items obtained from 2228 participants. A bifactor solution was the best fitting latent variable model with one general latent factor termed ‘distress’ and five ‘distress independent’ specific factors defined as self-confidence, antisocial behaviour, worry, aberrant thinking, and mood. Next, six distinct subgroups were derived from a person-centred latent profile analysis of the factor scores. Finally, concurrent validity was assessed using information on hazardous behaviours (alcohol use, substance misuse, self-harm) and treatment for mental ill health: both discriminated between the latent traits and latent profile subgroups. The findings suggest a complex, multidimensional mental health structure in the youth population rather than the previously assumed first or second order factor structure. Additionally, the analysis revealed a low hazardous behaviour/low mental illness risk subgroup not previously described. Population sub-groups show greater validity over single variable factors in revealing mental illness risks. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the structure of self reported mental health is multidimensional in nature and uniquely finds improved prediction to mental illness risk within person-centred subgroups derived from the multidimensional latent traits.

White matter tract myelin maturation and its association with general psychopathology in adolescence and early adulthood

“…We utilised p ‐factor or “general symptomatology” scores at baseline and follow‐up, as previously validated and published by St Clair et al (), where full modelling details and fit indices can be found. In brief, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded an optimal model with a bifactor structure, including a general p ‐factor and five specific factors.…”

“…Analyses were conducted at item level on items derived from self‐report measures of anxiety (Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale), depression (Moods and Feelings Questionnaire), psychotic‐spectrum symptoms (Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire), obsessionality (Revised Leyton Obsessional Inventory), antisocial behaviour (Antisocial Behaviour Questionnaire, self‐esteem (Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Questionnaire) and well‐being (Warwick‐Edinburgh Mental Well‐Being Scale) (Goodyer et al, ; Kiddle et al, ). Here, we assess p‐ factor scores in the MRI subsample; however, importantly, bifactor analysis was conducted on the full questionnaire cohort ( N = 2,228) (St Clair et al, ), resulting in more reliable and representative factor scores. As a result, the MRI sample demonstrated satisfactory stability of scores over time, with a correlation of R = .65 ( p < .001) between baseline and follow‐up p ‐factor scores.…”

“…The success of the p ‐factor in capturing common and shared variance across psychiatric disorders (Krueger & Eaton, ) has contributed to a shift of mental health research away from categorical towards more dimensional approaches. The p ‐factor has been characterised in childhood (Martel et al, ) and early adolescence (Carragher et al, ; Patalay et al, ) through to early adulthood (Laceulle, Vollebergh, & Ormel, ; St Clair et al, ). It is reported as relatively stable throughout development (Murray, Eisner, & Ribeaud, ), capturing familial risk of psychopathology (Martel et al, ), and is thought to be subject to genetic regulation (Brikell et al, ; Neumann et al, ; Selzam, Coleman, Caspi, Moffitt, & Plomin, ).…”

“…These include association tracts (inferior fronto‐occipital fasciculus [IFOF], inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), uncinate fasciculus (UF), dorsal and hippocampal cingulum), projection tracts (anterior thalamic radiation [ATR], corticospinal tract [CST]), as well as anterior and posterior aspects of the commissural corpus callosum (forceps minor and forceps major). To assess individual differences in p ‐factor scores we followed St Clair et al (), estimating a latent general p ‐factor (also termed “distress”) from a comprehensive set of self‐report questionnaires. We modelled longitudinal and cross‐sectional age effects on the distribution of myelin in pre‐defined tracts, as well as the relationship between the p ‐factor and myelin maturation in these target regions.…”

Fractionation of impulsive and compulsive trans-diagnostic phenotypes and their longitudinal associations

“…It is important to identify an optimal framework within which to conceptualize separable impulsive and compulsive problem behaviours as this could then be used to explore common or distinct antecedents. A recent resurgence of interest in bi-factor models in psychiatry (Reise, 2012b;St Clair et al, 2017), has yet to be adequately deployed and tested in latent phenotyping studies of impulsivity and compulsivity (Chamberlain et al, 2017;Guo et al, 2017). Such bi-factor models incorporate a general factor (capturing common variance across all study measures), as well as specific factors, enablingtheoretically -these constructs to be truly fractionated statistically.…”