title: Alcohol dependence is related to overall internalizing psychopathology load rather than to particular internalizing disorders: evidence from a national sample.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alcohol dependence is more prevalent among those with any one of several anxiety or depressive ("internalizing") disorders than among those in the general population. However, because internalizing disorders are highly intercorrelated, it is ambiguous whether alcohol dependence is related to internalizing psychopathology components that are: (i) unique to a particular internalizing disorder ("specific"); versus (ii) shared across a number of internalizing disorders ("general"). To clarify this ambiguity, we employed structural equation and logistic models to decompose the specific versus general components of internalizing psychopathology and then related these components separately to alcohol dependence.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data were based on face-to-face interviews of U.S. community residents collected in the 2001 to 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC; N = 43,093).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both analytic approaches demonstrated that increases in the general internalizing psychopathology load are accompanied by increases in the prevalence of alcohol dependence. Once the general internalizing psychopathology load is accounted for, knowing whether a particular internalizing disorder is present or absent provides little additional information regarding the prevalence of alcohol dependence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The components of internalizing psychopathology that are associated with alcohol dependence are shared and cumulative among common anxiety and depressive disorders. These findings have the potential to influence clinical and scientific conceptualizations of the association between alcohol dependence and internalizing psychopathology.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55454, USA. kushn001@umn.edu
authors: Matt G
authors: MG
authors: Kushner
authors: Melanie M
authors: MM
authors: Wall
authors: Robert F
authors: RF
authors: Krueger
authors: Kenneth J
authors: KJ
authors: Sher
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Maurer
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Thuras
authors: Susanne
authors: S
authors: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000465:Algorithms; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology