The structure of negative emotions in a clinical sample of children and adolescents

The authors sought to define the latent factors associated with childhood anxiety and depression, using a structural equations/confirmatory factor-analytic approach involving multiple informants (i.e., parent and child report) of symptoms. A sample of 216 children and adolescents with diagnoses of an anxiety disorder or comorbid anxiety and mood disorders and their parents were administered measures of childhood fear, anxiety, and depression. Results of comparative modeling best supported 3-factor solutions (fear, anxiety, and depression) that were consistent with recent conceptual models of anxiety and depression (e.g., tripartite model). Results also suggested that 3 widely used measures of childhood negative emotion are conceptually heterogeneous (containing item sets that loaded on different latent factors). Implications for the assessment of childhood negative emotions are discussed.