Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Is depression taxonic, dimensional, or both?

Steven R H Beach1, Nader Amir

  • 1Department of Psychology and Institute for Behavioral Research, University of Georgia, Athens 30602, USA. sbeach@egon.psy.uga.edu

Journal of Abnormal Psychology
|June 6, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Mortality in Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients With and Without Pre-Existing Cardiovascular Disease Receiving Oral Androgen Receptor Pathway Inhibitors.

Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety·2026
Same author

Predictors of Racial Socialization among Black Families: Neighborhood Factors, Racial Discrimination, and Depressive Symptoms.

Journal of child and family studies·2026
Same author

Disaggregation of between- and within-subject effects of internalizing symptoms on P300 amplitude during adolescence.

Development and psychopathology·2026
Same author

Racial discrimination accelerates age-related increases in serum neurofilament light chain among African American women: examination of change from midlife to older adulthood.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences·2026
Same author

Mediators of the bidirectional association between depression and relationship satisfaction among older adults.

Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43)·2026
Same author

Dyadic patterns of abstinence from smoking in dual-smoking couples enrolled in a pilot randomized clinical trial.

Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association·2026
Same journal

Applying hierarchical bayesian modeling to experimental psychopathology data: An introduction and tutorial.

Journal of abnormal psychology·2021
Same journal

Higher-order dimensions of psychopathology in a neurodevelopmental transdiagnostic sample.

Journal of abnormal psychology·2021
Same journal

Decreased reward-related brain function prospectively predicts increased substance use.

Journal of abnormal psychology·2021
Same journal

Context matters: Neighborhood disadvantage is associated with increased disordered eating and earlier activation of genetic influences in girls.

Journal of abnormal psychology·2021
Same journal

Satiety does not alter the ventral striatum's response to immediate reward in bulimia nervosa.

Journal of abnormal psychology·2021
Same journal

Network models of posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analysis.

Journal of abnormal psychology·2021
See all related articles

Item selection critically influences depression taxonicity. Distress indicators are dimensional, while somatic symptom items reveal taxonicity, impacting how depression is classified.

Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Psychometrics

Background:

  • The taxonicity of depression remains debated, with differing views on whether it represents a category or a continuum.
  • Previous research has yielded conflicting results regarding the dimensional versus taxonic nature of depression.
  • Item selection is a crucial, yet often overlooked, factor in taxonicity analyses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of item selection on determining the taxonicity of depression.
  • To contrast the taxonicity of general distress with a syndrome characterized by somatic symptoms.
  • To clarify whether depression is best conceptualized as a category or a dimensional construct.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized four independent samples comprising 984 undergraduate students.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Replicated prior findings demonstrating dimensional distress item indicators.
  • Employed items reflecting somatic symptoms and homeostatic disruption to assess taxonicity.

    • Main Results:

    • Distress item indicators were confirmed as dimensional across samples.
    • Items reflecting somatic symptoms and homeostatic disruption demonstrated taxonicity.
    • The choice of items significantly altered the outcome of taxonicity analyses.

    Conclusions:

    • Item selection is a pivotal determinant in establishing the taxonicity of depression.
    • The conceptualization of depression may depend heavily on the specific symptom domains assessed.
    • Future taxonicity research must carefully consider and report the item sets used.