Syndromes of Self-Reported Psychopathology for Ages 18–59 in 29 Societies

Abstract

This study tested the multi-society generalizability of an eight-syndrome assessment model derived from factor analyses of American adults’ self-ratings of 120 behavioral, emotional, and social problems. The Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach and Rescorla 2003) was completed by 17,152 18–59-year-olds in 29 societies. Confirmatory factor analyses tested the fit of self-ratings in each sample to the eight-syndrome model. The primary model fit index (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) showed good model fit for all samples, while secondary indices showed acceptable to good fit. Only 5 (0.06%) of the 8,598 estimated parameters were outside the admissible parameter space. Confidence intervals indicated that sampling fluctuations could account for the deviant parameters. Results thus supported the tested model in societies differing widely in social, political, and economic systems, languages, ethnicities, religions, and geographical regions. Although other items, societies, and analytic methods might yield different results, the findings indicate that adults in very diverse societies were willing and able to rate themselves on the same standardized set of 120 problem items. Moreover, their self-ratings fit an eight-syndrome model previously derived from self-ratings by American adults. The support for the statistically derived syndrome model is consistent with previous findings for parent, teacher, and self-ratings of 1½–18-year-olds in many societies. The ASR and its parallel collateral-report instrument, the Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL), may offer mental health professionals practical tools for the multi-informant assessment of clinical constructs of adult psychopathology that appear to be meaningful across diverse societies.

Syndromes of collateral-reported psychopathology for ages 18-59 in 18 Societies

“…Of the 5,007 parameters that were estimated, 4 (0.08%) were out of range, but 95% confidence intervals included the admissible range for all 4. Our findings thus supported the same eight-syndrome model for collateral ratings as was previously supported for self-report ratings (Ivanova et al, in press). …”

“…Combined with similar findings for the eight-syndrome model in ASR self-ratings from 17 of these societies (Ivanova et al, in press), our findings support the applicability of the syndromes scored from the parallel collateral- and self-rating instruments for 18–59-year-olds in many parts of the world. Additional items, instruments, and models are likely to be useful.…”

“…To test the degree to which ratings of problems in other societies fit particular syndrome models, CFAs should be applied to the ratings obtained in each society. CFAs of ASR self-ratings by 17,152 18–59-year-olds from 29 diverse societies have supported the eight-syndrome model in each society (Ivanova et al, in press). However, to our knowledge, no published studies report multi-society tests of syndromes of adult psychopathology derived statistically from collateral ratings.…”

A multimodal day treatment program for multi-problem young adults: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…The questionnaire, consisting of 123 items (three open questions not included), is validated for many different cultures [91]. …”

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): A Dimensional Alternative to Traditional Nosologies

“…Findings appear to be robust across timeframes, but this issue can be investigated even more systematically. Cross-cultural generalizability is well established for the internalizing and disinhibited externalizing spectra (Kessler et al, 2011;Krueger et al, 2003) and several empirical syndromes within them (Ivanova et al, 2007a(Ivanova et al, , 2007b(Ivanova et al, , 2015a(Ivanova et al, , 2015b, but other HiTOP dimensions need to be similarly studied.…”