title: What can specificity designs say about causality in psychopathology research?
abstract: Specificity designs in psychopathology research are used to examine whether a variable is unique to a given disorder. When nonspecificity is observed, it typically is assumed that the variable in question is not a cause of the disorder, but is instead a nonspecific consequence of general psychopathology. Such reasoning is flawed, however, because it fails to distinguish between testing a particular causal model containing the variable versus testing the causal status of the particular variable within the model. A variable may be nonspecific, but still causal, if it is one of several multiple interacting causes or if a nosological error has been made. A recognition of these complexities has implications for the nature of the psychopathology control group selected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garber
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Hollon
mesh_terms: D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011599:Psychopathology; D012307:Risk Factors