Dimensional Latent Structure of Callous-Unemotional Traits in German Adolescents: Results from Taxometric Analyses

A large amount of research has addressed the issue of the latent status of psychiatric disorders and related phenomena. We used a new taxometric approach developed by Ruscio to examine the latent status of callous-unemotional (CU) traits in a large representative study of German ninth graders (N = 3,878). Rather than estimating a putative taxon base rate and using that estimate to generate the taxon comparative data, we estimated CCFI profiles with each base rate estimate between 2.5% and 97.5% in increments of 2.5%. Results of different indicator sets clearly suggested a dimensional solution. This finding is consistent with different studies showing the dimensionality of psychopathy in adolescents. In summary, the results of this study point to the need for critical reflection in defining a high-risk-group in the context of CU traits. However, further studies are necessary to substantiate this result in different samples using different measurement approaches.

The latent structure of the adult attachment interview: Large sample evidence from the collaboration on attachment transmission synthesis

The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is a widely used measure in developmental science that assesses adults’ current states of mind regarding early attachment-related experiences with their primary caregivers. The standard system for coding the AAI recommends classifying individuals categorically as having an autonomous, dismissing, preoccupied, or unresolved attachment state of mind. However, previous factor and taxometric analyses suggest that: (a) adults’ attachment states of mind are captured by two weakly correlated factors reflecting adults’ dismissing and preoccupied states of mind and (b) individual differences on these factors are continuously rather than categorically distributed. The current study revisited these suggestions about the latent structure of AAI scales by leveraging individual participant data from 40 studies (N = 3,218), with a particular focus on the controversial observation from prior factor analytic work that indicators of preoccupied states of mind and indicators of unresolved states of mind about loss and trauma loaded on a common factor. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that: (a) a 2-factor model with weakly correlated dismissing and preoccupied factors and (b) a 3-factor model that further distinguished unresolved from preoccupied states of mind were both compatible with the data. The preoccupied and unresolved factors in the 3-factor model were highly correlated. Taxometric analyses suggested that individual differences in dismissing, preoccupied, and unresolved states of mind were more consistent with a continuous than a categorical model. The importance of additional tests of predictive validity of the various models is emphasized.

Attachment categories or dimensions: The Adult Attachment Scale across three generations in Poland

Even though previous attachment taxometric studies supported the conclusion that attachment is rather dimensional than categorical construct, they also did not provide consistent support against categorical approach. Addressing limitations of previous taxometric studies on adult attachment, we asked two research questions: Is attachment as measured by the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) categorical or dimensional? What is the predictive validity of categorical and dimensional approaches? To answer these questions, data of the AAS from 869 parents, 575 adolescents, and 500 grandmothers from the same families in Poland were analyzed. Taxometric analyses were replicated across three generations providing weak evidences to support the dimensional approach. Clustering methods provided an additional support revealing that empirically derived categories of attachment are based on security level but not on qualitatively different attachment patterns. Analyses testing predictive effects of categorical compared to dimensional approaches to attachment assessment revealed that a dimensional approach is more valid than a categorical approach in testing hypotheses related to the intergenerational transmission of attachment.

Latent Structure of Early Adolescent Bullying Perpetration: A Taxometric Analysis of Raw and Ranked Scores

The purpose of this study was to investigate the latent structure type (categorical vs. dimensional) of bullying perpetration in a large sample of middle school students. A nine-item bullying scale was administered to 1,222 (625 boys, 597 girls) early adolescents enrolled in middle schools in a Midwestern state. Based on the results of a principal axis factoring analysis, the nine items were organized into four homogeneous scales. These scales were then used as indicators in a taxometric analysis of the bullying perpetration construct. According to the results of three nonredundant taxometric procedures (mean above minus below a cut, maximum covariance, and latent mode factor analysis), the total sample showed evidence of dimensional or continuous latent structure, but the male and female subsamples produced outcomes that were more ambiguous. Because the indicators were highly skewed and leptokurtic, raw scores were converted to rank normalized scores and the taxometric analyses recomputed. These recomputed analyses provided unequivocal support for dimensional latent structure in the total sample as well as in both subsamples. From these results, it was surmised that bullying perpetration is continuously organized and that rank normalized scores may improve the interpretability of taxometric findings derived from highly nonnormal indicators.