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The Development of Latent Dimensions of Psychopathology across Early Childhood: Stability of Dimensions and Moderators of Change.

ABSTRACT: Recent research has described the structure of psychopathology as including one general and multiple specific factors, and this structure has been found in samples across development. However, little work has examined whether this structure is consistent across time, particularly in young children, within the same sample. Further, few studies have examined factors that influence the magnitude of the stability of latent dimensions of psychopathology. In the present study, we examine these issues in a community sample of 545 children assessed at ages 3 and 6. In addition, we explored child temperament, parental history of psychopathology, and parenting behaviors as potential moderators of the longitudinal stability of latent dimensions of psychopathology. We found that the same bifactor model structure identified at age 3 provided an adequate fit to the data at age 6. Further, our model revealed significant homotypic stability of the general, internalizing, and externalizing specific factors. We also found evidence of differentiation of psychopathology over time with the general factor at age 3 predicting the externalizing factor at age 6. However, we failed to identify moderators of the longitudinal associations between psychopathology latent factors. Overall, our results bolster support for the bifactor structure of psychopathology, particularly in early childhood.

SUBMITTER: Olino TM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6056348 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Development of Latent Dimensions of Psychopathology across Early Childhood: Stability of Dimensions and Moderators of Change.

Olino Thomas M TM Bufferd Sara J SJ Dougherty Lea R LR Dyson Margaret W MW Carlson Gabrielle A GA Klein Daniel N DN

Journal of abnormal child psychology 20181001 7

Recent research has described the structure of psychopathology as including one general and multiple specific factors, and this structure has been found in samples across development. However, little work has examined whether this structure is consistent across time, particularly in young children, within the same sample. Further, few studies have examined factors that influence the magnitude of the stability of latent dimensions of psychopathology. In the present study, we examine these issues ...[more]

PMID: 29359267

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Project description:BackgroundComorbidity between psychopathologies may be attributed to genetic and environmental differences between people as well as causal processes within individuals, where one pathology increases risk for another. Disentangling between-person (co)variance from within-person processes of psychopathology dimensions across childhood may shed light on developmental causes of comorbid mental health problems. Here, we aim to determine whether and to what extent directional relationships between psychopathology dimensions within-person, and between individuals within families, play a role in comorbidity.MethodsWe conducted random intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) analyses to unravel the longitudinal co-occurrence of child psychopathology dimensions, jointly estimating between-person and within-person processes from childhood to early adolescence (age 7-12). We further developed an extension of the model to estimate sibling effects within-family (wf-RI-CLPM). Analyses were separately conducted in two large population-based cohorts, TEDS and NTR, including parent-rated measures of child problem behaviours based on the SDQ and CBCL scales respectively.ResultsWe found evidence for strong between-person effects underlying the positive intercorrelation between problem behaviours across time. Beyond these time-varying within-person processes accounted for an increasing amount of trait variance, within- and cross-trait, overtime in both cohorts. Lastly, by accommodating family level data, we found evidence for reciprocal directional influences within sib-pairs longitudinally.ConclusionsOur results indicate that within-person processes partly explain the co-occurrence of psychopathology dimensions across childhood, and within sib-pairs. Analyses provided substantive results on developmental processes underlying comorbidity in behavioural problems. Future studies should consider different developmental timeframes to shed more light on the processes contributing to developmental comorbidity.

Project description:BackgroundEarly-life experiences have profound effects on functioning in adulthood. Altered cortical development may be one mechanism through which early-life experiences, including poverty and psychopathology symptoms, affect outcomes. However, there is little prospective research beginning early in development that combines clinician-rated psychopathology symptoms and multiwave magnetic resonance imaging to examine when these relationships emerge.MethodsChildren from the Preschool Depression Study who completed diagnostic interviews at three different developmental stages (preschool, school age, early adolescent) and up to three magnetic resonance imaging scans beginning in middle childhood participated in this study (N = 138). Multilevel models were used to calculate intercepts and slopes of cortical thickness within a priori cortical regions of interest. Linear regressions probed how early-life poverty and psychopathology (depression, anxiety, and externalizing symptoms at separate developmental periods) related to intercept/slope.ResultsCollectively, experiences during the preschool period predicted reduced cortical thickness, via either reduced intercept or accelerated thinning (slope). Early-life poverty predicted intercepts within sensory and sensory-motor integration regions. Beyond poverty, preschool anxiety symptoms predicted intercepts within the insula, subgenual cingulate, and inferior parietal cortex. Preschool externalizing symptoms predicted accelerated thinning within prefrontal and parietal cortices. Depression and anxiety/externalizing symptoms at later ages were not significant predictors.ConclusionsEarly childhood is a critical period of risk; experiences at this developmental stage specifically have the potential for prolonged influence on brain development. Negative early experiences collectively predicted reduced cortical thickness, but the specific neural systems affected aligned with those typically implicated in these individual disorders/experiences.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Recent research indicates that the best-fitting structural model of psychopathology includes a general factor capturing comorbidity (p) and several more specific, orthogonal factors. Little is known about the stability of these factors, although two opposing developmental processes have been proposed: dynamic mutualism suggests that symptom-level interaction and reinforcement may lead to a strengthening of comorbidity (p) over time, whereas p-differentiation suggests a general vulnerability to psychopathology that gives way to increasingly distinct patterns of symptoms over time. In order to test both processes, we examine two forms of developmental stability from ages 2 to 14 years: strength (i.e., consistency in the amount of variance explained by general and specific factors) and phenotypic stability (i.e., homotypic and heterotypic continuity). METHODS:Data are from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Psychopathology symptoms were assessed nine times between ages 2 and 14 years (n = 1,253) using the Child Behavior Checklist completed by mothers. Confirmatory bifactor modeling was used to test structural models of psychopathology at each age. Consistency in strength was examined by calculating the Explained Common Variance (ECV) and phenotypic stability was investigated with cross-lagged modeling of the general and specific factors. RESULTS:Bifactor models fit the data well across this developmental period. ECV values were reasonably consistent across development, with the general factor accounting for the majority of shared variance (61%-71%). Evidence of both homotypic and heterotypic continuity emerged, with most heterotypic continuity involving the general factor, as it both predicted and was predicted by specific factors. CONCLUSIONS:A bifactor model effectively captures psychopathological comorbidity from early childhood through adolescence. The longitudinal associations between the general and specific factors provide evidence for both the hypothesized processes (dynamic mutualism and p-differentiation) occurring through development.

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The Development of Latent Dimensions of Psychopathology across Early Childhood: Stability of Dimensions and Moderators of Change.

Publications

The Development of Latent Dimensions of Psychopathology across Early Childhood: Stability of Dimensions and Moderators of Change.

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