Correlates of a general psychopathology factor in a clinical sample of childhood sexual abuse survivors

Background: Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) increases risk for most psychiatric disorders. There is evidence that the structure of psychopathology can be explained by a number of latent dimensions of psychopathology including a 'General Psychopathology' (P) factor. The objective of the current study was to provide the first assessment as to whether P is identifiable, and what its correlates might be in a clinical sample. Methods: An adult, clinical sample of Danish CSA survivors (N = 420) was assessed using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III. Confirmatory factory analysis (CFA) was used to assess the latent structure of nine psychiatric disorders, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to determine correlates of the bestfitting dimensional model. Results: CFA results favoured a bifactor model including three specific dimensions of psychopathology, "Internalizing", "Externalizing", and "Thought Disorder", and a bi-factor "P". A SEM model that included ten predictors was a good fit to the data and explained 55% of variance in 'P'. The 'P' factor was significantly associated with emotional coping, negative self-worth, traumatic life events, and anxious attachments. Limitations: Psychiatric disorders were assessed using self-report measures, and the sample was predominately female. Conclusions: Results provide initial evidence of P in a clinical sample and several unique correlates of this factor were identified.