Co-development of general psychopathology and high-risk personality traits during adolescence

There is strong evidence for a general psychopathology dimension which captures covariance among all forms of psychopathology, however questions remain about what this dimension represents and whether certain aspects of personality underlie general psychopathology. This study examined the co-development of general psychopathology and four high-risk personality traits: anxiety sensitivity, negative thinking, sensation seeking, and impulsivity. Data from the control groups of two school-based randomised controlled trials of substance use prevention programs with Australian adolescents (N = 2,083, mean age at baseline = 13.49 years) were analysed. Adolescents completed self-report measures of psychopathology symptoms and personality at baseline, one-, two-, and three-years post-baseline. A general psychopathology dimension was extracted from a higher-order model and latent curve models with structured residuals, controlling for age, sex, and cohort, were used to examine longitudinal associations from 13 to 16 years of age. Anxiety sensitivity and impulsivity were associated with spikes in general psychopathology at later time points, and general psychopathology was associated with spikes in negative thinking at later time points. Sensation seeking was unrelated to general psychopathology. These findings have implications for personality-based prevention and intervention targets and contribute to our understanding of the development of general psychopathology in adolescence.