The structure of psychopathology in adolescence: Replication of a general psychopathology factor in the TRAILS study

This study aimed to replicate a study by Caspi and colleagues, which proposed that the structure of psychopathology is characterized by a general psychopathology factor, in addition to smaller internalizing and externalizing factors. Our study expanded the approach of the original by using continuous adolescent data and testing additional models, including both self- and parent-reported data, to bolster the robustness of the findings. Our findings indicate that the structure of psychopathology is best characterized by a model including a general factor, in addition to smaller internalizing and externalizing factors. These results emphasize the importance of this model for understanding the structure of psychopathology. Given the increasing emphasis on the importance of, and need for, replication, the overall evidence of a general factor seems rather robust.
Keywords: psychopathology, replication, confirmatory factor analysis, adolescence