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. 2005 Sep;17(3):369-74.
doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.17.3.369.

Latent structure of anxiety: taxometric exploration

Roman Kotov  1 , Norman B Schmidt, Darin R Lerew, Thomas E Joiner Jr, Nicholas S Ialongo
Affiliations

Latent structure of anxiety: taxometric exploration

Roman Kotov et al. Psychol Assess. 2005 Sep.

Abstract

Taxometrics is a statistical tool that can be used to discern categories from continua. Taxometric analyses (MAXCOV and MAXEIG) were conducted in a large nonclinical sample (N=1,215) to determine whether extreme anxiety forms a distinct psychopathological category, an anxiety taxon. Anxiety was operationalized with self-report measures of subjective anxiety, anxious cognitive style, physiological arousal, and anxiety-related impairment. Procedures consistently identified a taxon with a prevalence of approximately 11%. Examination of the taxon's convergent and discriminant validity revealed that it reflects general distress rather than physiological arousal. Taxon membership showed some evidence of incremental validity.

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