In the present work, we sought to determine the extent to which alcohol dependence is related to components that are shared across various internalizing disorders (“general”) versus those that are unique to a single internalizing disorder (“specific”). To begin to address this issue, we established the factor structure of multiple internalizing disorders in a large nationally representative epidemiological sample. Past studies report that factor analysis of up to seven common internalizing diagnoses reliably identifies just two latent variables that explain a significant proportion of the co-variation among the diagnoses (Goldberg et al., 1987; Krueger, 1999; Krueger and Finger, 2001; McGlinchey and Zimmerman, 2007; Prenoveau et al., 2010; Slade and Watson, 2006; Watson, 2005). Further, the residuals of the factor analyzed disorders quantify the component of each that does not covary with the latent factor(s); i.e., the residuals represent the component of each disorder that is unique relative to the other disorders. Therefore, latent factor scores and their residuals generated from a set of internalizing disorders provide a practical measurement approach that can be entered into structural equation models to test specific hypotheses about the association of general versus specific internalizing psychopathology components with alcohol dependence.
