Mapping Research Domain Criteria using a transdiagnostic mini-RDoC assessment in mental disorders: a confirmatory factor analysis

This study aimed to build on the relationship of well-established self-report and behavioral assessments to the latent constructs positive (PVS) and negative valence systems (NVS), cognitive systems (CS), and social processes (SP) of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework in a large transnosological population which cuts across DSM/ICD-10 disorder criteria categories. One thousand four hundred and thirty one participants (42.1% suffering from anxiety/fear-related, 18.2% from depressive, 7.9% from schizophrenia spectrum, 7.5% from bipolar, 3.4% from autism spectrum, 2.2% from other disorders, 18.4% healthy controls, and 0.2% with no diagnosis specified) recruited in studies within the German research network for mental disorders for the Phenotypic, Diagnostic and Clinical Domain Assessment Network Germany (PD-CAN) were examined with a Mini-RDoC-Assessment including behavioral and self-report measures. The respective data was analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to delineate the underlying latent RDoC-structure. A revised four-factor model reflecting the core domains positive and negative valence systems as well as cognitive systems and social processes showed a good fit across this sample and showed significantly better fit compared to a one factor solution. The connections between the domains PVS, NVS and SP could be substantiated, indicating a universal latent structure spanning across known nosological entities. This study is the first to give an impression on the latent structure and intercorrelations between four core Research Domain Criteria in a transnosological sample. We emphasize the possibility of using already existing and well validated self-report and behavioral measurements to capture aspects of the latent structure informed by the RDoC matrix.

Peer sexual harassment in adolescence: Dimensions of the sexual harassment survey in boys and girls

The phenomenon of adolescent sexual harassment is a topic that has taken on special relevance in recent decades. However, general consensus regarding its nature, prevalence and dimensions has yet to emerge. This study used a representative sample of 3,489 Andalusian adolescents from the second stage of Compulsory Secondary Education (E.S.O.) and the Spanish Baccalaureate (Bachillerato), and it is primarily focused on two main objectives: to test the factor structure of the "sexual harassment" scale in boys and girls, and to analyze the prevalence of hte sexual harassment among adolescent students. Descriptive analyses and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed, allowing us to explore the nature of the phenomenon and to describe its prevalence. The results obtained revealed a two-dimensional structure of this scale in both boys and girls: one dimension reflecting visual-verbal forms of sexual harassment and the second dimension including physical forms. Regarding to prevalence, the outcomes shown a high prevalence of sexual harassment involvement across both sexes during adolescence. However, boys were more involved in victimization and aggression than girls. The importance of analyzing the phenomenon in greater depth is also highlighted.