Assessment of anxiety and depression in young children: Support for two separate constructs

Validated the interrelatedness of depression and anxiety in young children by testing four latent factor models: dual construct, unrelated; dual const ruct, correlated; single construct; and second-order or higher order analys is to test that depression and anxiety are primary constructs under the hig her order factor of general affective distress. Children (N = 86) were ages 6 to 11, with mothers who were HIV-symptomatic or diagnosed with AIDS. Dep ression and anxiety measures included the Children's Depression Inventory ( Kovacs, 1992), selected items from the Dominic-R (Valla, Bergeron, Berube, Gaudet, & St-Georges, 1994), and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety, S cale (Reynolds & Richmond, 1985). Structural equation modeling was used to test the models. Model 2 (dual construct, correlated) fit the data better t han did Models 1 and 3; results for the higher order model were identical t o Model 2, suggesting the higher order model is equivalent to the dual-cons truct model.