Research Article: The Role of Maternal Personality Organization and of the p Factor in Predicting Parental Distress, the Quality of Parental Care, and Offspring’s Dysregulation Symptoms
Abstract:
Caspi et al posited the presence of a General Psychopathological Factor (p factor) that represents a general vulnerability to psychopathology. The implications of the p factor are far-reaching. If all psychopathology is underpinned by a single factor, then this carries significant consequences for our understanding of the nature of mental disorders. It also has implications for treatment, as interventions that target the p factor may be more effective at reducing psychopathology than those that focus on specific disorders. Moreover, it has implications for the mechanisms of transmission of psychopathological risk from parents to their offspring (due to possible shared genetic vulnerability and to children’s exposure to maladaptive environment). In sum, this factor consists of an element of liability to psychopathology, which can be dimensionally different (less or more severe), and that can negatively affect offspring’s emotional/behavioral functioning. Scientific literature has debated about how to measure the p factor as a continuous variable, proposing different solutions. One way of measuring it on a continuum from lesser to greater severity has been recently suggested by Cervin et al. These authors posited to use the sum of all subscales of Achenbach’s tools joint in one general factor of vulnerability and distress for psychopathology.
Introduction:
Caspi et al posited the presence of a General Psychopathological Factor (p factor) that represents a general vulnerability to psychopathology. The implications of the p factor are far-reaching. If all psychopathology is underpinned by a single factor, then this carries significant consequences for our understanding of the nature of mental disorders. It also has implications for treatment, as interventions that target the p factor may be more effective at reducing psychopathology than those that focus on specific…
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