title: Aging and symptoms of anxiety and depression: structural invariance of the tripartite model.
abstract: Negative affect measures were evaluated in a cross-sectional community sample of adults aged 18-93 (N = 335) to examine the structure of neuroticism, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in young, middle, and older adult cohorts. Structural equation modeling was used to contrast 3 nested models: a 1-factor general distress model; a 2-factor high negative-low positive affect model; and a 3-factor "tripartite model" reflecting a higher order Negative Affect factor that is common to depression and anxiety problems and 2 lower order factors, Low Positive Affect (mostly specific to depression) and Arousal (specific to anxiety/panic). As expected, the tripartite model fit best for all age groups. Further, multigroup analyses indicated age invariance for the tripartite model, suggesting the model can be effectively applied with older populations.
authors: Department of PsychologyUniversity of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, USA. bteachman@virginia.edu
authors: Bethany A
authors: BA
authors: Teachman
authors: Karen L
authors: KL
authors: Siedlecki
authors: Joshua C
authors: JC
authors: Magee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010551:Personality; D015995:Prevalence; D011584:Psychology / Q000379:methods*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index