title: Examining the Dynamic Structure of Daily Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior at Multiple Levels of Analysis.
abstract: Psychiatric diagnostic covariation suggests that the underlying structure of psychopathology is not one of circumscribed disorders. Quantitative modeling of individual differences in diagnostic patterns has uncovered several broad domains of mental disorder liability, of which the Internalizing and Externalizing spectra have garnered the greatest support. These dimensions have generally been estimated from lifetime or past-year comorbidity patters, which are distal from the covariation of symptoms and maladaptive behavior that ebb and flow in daily life. In this study, structural models are applied to daily diary data (Median = 94 days) of maladaptive behaviors collected from a sample (N = 101) of individuals diagnosed with personality disorders (PDs). Using multilevel and unified structural equation modeling, between-person, within-person, and person-specific structures were estimated from 16 behaviors that are encompassed by the Internalizing and Externalizing spectra. At the between-person level (i.e., individual differences in average endorsement across days) we found support for a two-factor Internalizing-Externalizing model, which exhibits significant associations with corresponding diagnostic spectra. At the within-person level (i.e., dynamic covariation among daily behavior pooled across individuals) we found support for a more differentiated, four-factor, Negative Affect-Detachment-Hostility-Disinhibition structure. Finally, we demonstrate that the person-specific structures of associations between these four domains are highly idiosyncratic.
authors.affiliation: Personality Processes and Outcomes Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA, USA.
authors.forename: Aidan G C
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, USA.
authors.forename: Adriene M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Beltz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill NC, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Gates
authors.affiliation: Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, USA.
authors.forename: Peter C M
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Molenaar
authors.affiliation: Personality, Psychopathology, and Psychometrics Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo NY, USA.
authors.forename: Leonard J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Simms
keywords: externalizing; idiographic modeling; internalizing; multilevel SEM; personality dynamics; personality structure; psychopathology; unified SEM