Evaluation Of The Internal Structural Validity Of The Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) Anxiety Disorders In Children And Adolescents

Abstract

OF THE DISSERTATION EVALUATION OF THE INTERNAL STRUCTURAL VALIDITY OF THE DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS (FOURTH EDITION) ANXIETY DISORDERS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS by Yasmin Rey Florida International University, 2010 Miami, Florida Professor Wendy K. Silverman, Co-major Professor Professor James Jaccard, Co-major Professor The purpose of the present dissertation was to evaluate the internal validity of symptoms of four common anxiety disorders included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition (text revision) (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000), namely, separation anxiety disorder (SAD), social phobia (SOP), specific phobia (SP), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), in a sample of 625 youth (ages 6 to 17 years) referred to an anxiety disorders clinic and 479 parents. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted on the dichotomous items of the SAD, SOP, SP, and GAD sections of the youth and parent versions of the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV (ADIS-IV: C/P; Silverman & Albano, 1996) to test and compare a number of factor models including a factor model based on the DSM. Contrary to predictions, findings from CFAs showed that a correlated model with five factors of SAD, SOP, SP, GAD worry, and GAD somatic distress, provided the best fit of the youth data as well as the parent data. Multiple group CFAs supported the metric invariance of