Notably, once the internalizing load variables were in the models, SEM analyses produced some negative beta weights for specific internalizing disorders and the logistic regressions produced some ORs < 1 for specific internalizing disorders. These findings should be interpreted within the context of their small (mostly trivial) effects sizes and only then within the overall predictive equations in which they are embedded. All the internalizing disorders considered in isolation are significantly positively correlated with alcohol dependence risk (e.g., see columns 1 and 3 of Table 3). However, in the models tested, the magnitude of the positive association between internalizing load and alcohol dependence overwhelms the comparatively small association (positive or negative) between the unique components of specific internalizing disorders and alcohol dependence. In other words, the strong positive association of internalizing load with alcohol dependence risk is only very slightly increased or decreased by also knowing whether a specific internalizing disorder is or is not present in the logistic models or by adding components that are unique to a particular internalizing disorder to the SEM models.
