A Developmentally Informed Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Strength of General Psychopathology in Childhood and Adolescence

Jordan L Harris; Benjamin Swanson; Isaac T Petersen

doi:10.1007/s10567-023-00464-1

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A Developmentally Informed Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Strength of General Psychopathology in Childhood and Adolescence

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A Developmentally Informed Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Strength of General Psychopathology in Childhood and Adolescence

Jordan L Harris, Benjamin Swanson and Isaac T Petersen

Clinical child and family psychology review, Vol.27(1), pp.130-164

03/2024

DOI: 10.1007/s10567-023-00464-1

PMCID: PMC10938301

PMID: 38112921

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Abstract

Considerable support exists for higher-order dimensional conceptualizations of psychopathology in adults. A growing body of work has focused on understanding the structure of general and specific psychopathology in children and adolescents. No prior meta-analysis has examined whether the strength of the general psychopathology factor (p factor)-measured by explained common variance (ECV)-changes from childhood to adolescence. The primary objective of this multilevel meta-analysis was to determine whether general psychopathology strength changes across development (i.e. across ages) in childhood and adolescence. Several databases were searched in November 2021; 65 studies, with 110 effect sizes (ECV), nested within shared data sources, were identified. Included empirical studies used a factor analytic modeling approach that estimated latent factors for child/adolescent internalizing, externalizing, and optionally thought-disordered psychopathology, and a general factor. Studies spanned ages 2-17 years. Across ages, general psychopathology explained over half (~ 56%) of the reliable variance in symptoms of psychopathology. Age-moderation analyses revealed that general factor strength remained stable across ages, suggesting that general psychopathology strength does not significantly change across childhood to adolescence. Even if the structure of psychopathology changes with development, the prominence of general psychopathology across development has important implications for future research and intervention.

p factor

Adolescence

General psychopathology

Explained common variance

Childhood

Meta-analysis

Details

Title: Subtitle: A Developmentally Informed Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Strength of General Psychopathology in Childhood and Adolescence
Creators: Jordan L Harris - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, 340 Iowa Avenue G60, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA. Jordan-l-harris@uiowa.edu
Benjamin Swanson - Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
Isaac T Petersen - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, 340 Iowa Avenue G60, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Clinical child and family psychology review, Vol.27(1), pp.130-164
DOI: 10.1007/s10567-023-00464-1
PMID: 38112921
PMCID: PMC10938301
NLM abbreviation: Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev
eISSN: 1573-2827
Grant note: UL1TR002537 / NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR002537 / NCATS NIH HHS T32 GM108540 / NIGMS NIH HHS T32GM108540 / NIGMS NIH HHS
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 12/19/2023
Date published: 03/2024
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Center for Social Science Innovation
Record Identifier: 9984533453702771

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