A relative strength of the latent variable approach employed includes its potential to model the full range of covariation among the internalizing disorders. This can be contrasted with the manifest (logistic) variable approach in which internalizing load was operationalized by simply counting the number of disorders present. A limitation of the logistic approach is that the relationship of the disorder count to an individual diagnosis is potentially correlated (i.e., the disorder being tested also can contribute to the count). By contrast, the latent internalizing factor and the disorder residuals are independent by definition. With this said, the conceptual and technical simplicity of the count approach can also be taken as strength relative to the conceptual and technical complexities of the latent variable approach (Borsboom et al., 2003). All of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches notwithstanding, it is reassuring that both produced essentially the same results.
