The latent structure of child depression: a taxometric analysis.
BACKGROUND
The current study examined the categorical versus continuous nature of child and adolescent depression among three samples of children and adolescents ranging from 5 to 19 years.


METHODS
Depression was measured using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Indicators derived from the CDI were based on factor analytic research on the CDI and included indices of: 1) social withdrawal, 2) anhedonia, 3) incompetence/maladjustment and 4) negative self-esteem.


RESULTS
Taxometric procedures provided convergent support for the existence of a latent taxon across three independent samples. Internal and external consistency tests as well as Monte Carlo simulations supported the validity of the results.


CONCLUSIONS
Multiple nonredundant procedures and samples were all consistently indicative of taxonicity in child depression.
Richey
J Anthony
JA
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA. Richey@psy.fsu.edu
Schmidt
Norman B
NB
Lonigan
Christopher J
CJ
Phillips
Beth M
BM
Catanzaro
Salvatore J
SJ
Laurent
Jeff
J
Gerhardstein
Rebecca R
RR
Kotov
Roman
R
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D055815:Young Adult