External Correlates of the SPECTRA: Indices of Psychopathology (SPECTRA) in a Clinical Sample.

This study explored the SPECTRA's construct validity using a wide range of life-event (extra-test) variables in a clinical sample. The life-event variables included: education level, school failure, childhood adversity, suicide attempts, psychiatric hospitalizations, depression, psychotic symptoms, self-injury, substance abuse, arrests, physical violence, marital status, employment status and current medications. Results showed that all SPECTRA clinical scales had significant life-event correlations. For the higher-order Spectra scales, the global index of psychopathology had the greatest number and range of life-event correlations. Correlations for the Externalizing and Reality Impairing Spectra scales provided solid validity evidence, while correlations for the Internalizing Spectra scale were more diffuse. These findings provide the first non-test-based evidence of construct validity for the SPECTRA. PMID: 33386029 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Clin Psychol Psychother Source Type: research