Differential affect structure in depressive and anxiety disorders

Abstract

A dynamic model of affect suggests that positive and negative affect (PA and NA) are normally relatively independent of one another, whereas the heightened apprehensiveness and narrowed cognitive attention in persons with anxiety may contribute to a more unidimensional affect structure. This possibility was examined in a sample of 230 patients seeking treatment for anxiety and depressive disorders in the Netherlands. Two methods, a multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Fisher's z test of correlations, were used to test these predicted relationships within a sample of persons diagnosed with either a depressive or an anxiety disorder. Both methods supported these predictions, with the depressed group exhibiting relatively independent PA and NA while the anxious group's affects were more strongly inversely correlated.

Notes

Because the PA and NA factors are well-defined, “parallel parcels” were deemed satisfactory since they were constructed wholly within the well-defined factors of PA and NA (see Bandalos and Finney, 2001). Positive parcel 1 included items “alert”, “excited”, and “enthusiastic”; parcel 2 included “interested”, “proud”, and “determined”; and parcel 3 was made up of “attentive”, “inspired”, “strong”, and “active”. The ten negative items divided into parcel 1 with “hostile”, “nervous”, and “distressed”; parcel 2 with “ashamed”, “scared”, and “afraid”; and parcel 3 with “irritable”, “guilty”, “jittery”, and “upset”.