COMMON AND SPECIFIC DIMENSIONS OF SELF-REPORTED ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE COGNITIVE AND TRIPARTITE MODELS

The common and specific symptom dimensions of anxiety and depression p roposed by the tripartite (L. A. Clark & D. Watson, 1991c) and cogniti ve (A. T. Beck, 1976, 1987) models were investigated in 844 psychiatri c outpatients and 420 undergraduates. Principal-factor analyses with o blique rotations performed on the 42 items of the Beck Depression Inve ntory and Beck Anxiety Inventory for both samples revealed that there were 2 correlated factors, Depression and Anxiety. Second-order factor analyses of the interfactor correlation matrices indicated a large ge neral distress or negative affect factor underlying the relationship b etween the 2 first-order factors. Specific depression and anxiety dime nsions were apparent even after we controlled for negative affect. The results were consistent with both the tripartite and cognitive models , with the cognitive and motivational symptoms specific to depression and the physiological arousal symptoms unique to anxiety.