The p Factor

2013/08/14 by Avshalom Caspi, Renate Houts, Daniel W. Belsky +8 · 9 citations
Psychology · #Cognitive Abilities and Testing #Mental Health Research Topics #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

paper · doi:10.1177/2167702613497473

openalex publication_date 2013/08/14 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03

Abstract

Mental disorders traditionally have been viewed as distinct, episodic, and categorical conditions. This view has been challenged by evidence that many disorders are sequentially comorbid, recurrent/chronic, and exist on a continuum. Using the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, we examined the structure of psychopathology, taking into account dimensionality, persistence, co-occurrence, and sequential comorbidity of mental disorders across 20 years, from adolescence to midlife. Psychiatric disorders were initially explained by three higher-order factors (Internalizing, Externalizing, and Thought Disorder) but explained even better with one General Psychopathology dimension. We have called this dimension the p factor because it conceptually parallels a familiar dimension in psychological science: the g factor of general intelligence. Higher p scores are associated with more life impairment, greater familiality, worse developmental histories, and more compromised early-life brain function. The p factor explains why it is challenging to find causes, consequences, biomarkers, and treatments with specificity to individual mental disorders. Transdiagnostic approaches may improve research.

Citations

• Retinal vascular image analysis as a potential screening tool for cerebrovascular disease: a rationale based on homology between cerebral and retinal microvasculatures
• On the Relationship between the Higher-Order Factor Model and the Hierarchical Factor Model
• The Structure of Common Mental Disorders
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• Inquiry into the correlation between burnout and depression.
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• Mental disorder [wikipedia]