Common and specific dimensions of self-reported anxiety and depression: implications for the cognitive and tripartite...

The common and specific symptom dimensions of anxiety and depression proposed by the tripartite (L.A. Clark & D. Watson, 1991 c) and cognitive (A.T. Beck, 1976, 1987) models were investigated in 844 psychiatric outpatients and 420 undergraduates. Principal-factor analyses with oblique rotations performed on the 42 items of the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory for both samples revealed that there were 2 correlated factors. Depression and Anxiety. Second-order factor analyses of the interfactor correlation matrices indicated a large general distress or negative affect factor underlying the relationship between the 2 first-order factors. Specific depression and anxiety dimensions were apparent even after we controlled for negative affect. The results were consistent with both the tripartite and cognitive models, with the cognitive and motivational symptoms specific to depression and the physiological arousal symptoms unique to anxiety.