Citation

Kotov R, Schmidt NB, Lerew DR, Joiner TE, Ialongo NS. Psychol. Assess. 2005; 17(3): 369-374.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/1040-3590.17.3.369

PMID

16262462

Abstract

Taxometrics is a statistical tool that can be used to discern categories from continua. Taxometric analyses (MAXCOV and MAXEIG) were conducted in a large nonclinical sample (N=1,215) to determine whether extreme anxiety forms a distinct psychopathological category, an anxiety taxon. Anxiety was operationalized with self-report measures of subjective anxiety, anxious cognitive style, physiological arousal, and anxiety-related impairment. Procedures consistently identified a taxon with a prevalence of approximately 11%. Examination of the taxon's convergent and discriminant validity revealed that it reflects general distress rather than physiological arousal. Taxon membership showed some evidence of incremental validity.

Language: en