First evidence on a general disease ("d") factor underlying psychopathology and physical illness in adolescents.

The coexistence of mental and physical health illnesses could be accounted for by an underlying general disease factor (termed d-factor), reflecting theoretical underpinnings based on possible genetic and pathophysiological overlapping mechanisms. This study evaluated whether the d-factor underlies mental and physical health illnesses in adolescents. A series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using data from 1120 adolescents. The proposed common underlying factor, we believe is the d-factor, was consistently present across different modeling approaches, including unidimensional, correlated-factor, and bifactor models. The best model fit was achieved with the bifactor model represented by mental, neurological, and psychical conditions tested. The first compelling evidence was provided supporting the existence of the transdiagnostic d-factor in youth, opening the door to innovative research of comorbid mental and physical health conditions.

Early Maladaptive Schemas and the Accuracy of Facial Emotion Recognition: A Preliminary Investigation.

Different developmental experiences related to deep-rooted beliefs about oneself and others may significantly affect individual social emotional competencies, such as the accuracy of facial emotion recognition and detection. This study presents a preliminary examination of the relationship between early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and the accuracy of recognizing facial expressions showing basic emotions, neutral faces, and discrimination between neutral and emotional faces. The sample consisted of 138 psychology students (M = 20.33; SD = 1.33, 27 of the respondents were male). Japanese and Caucasian facial expressions of emotion and neutral faces and JACNeuF (Matsumoto & Ekman, 1988) were used as stimulus material for assessing the facial emotion recognition of seven basic emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, fear, sadness, happiness, and surprise) and neutral faces. The Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form 3 (YSQ-S3; Young, 2005) was administered as a measure of EMSs. The findings demonstrate that all schema domains affect the accuracy of recognizing facial expressions showing negative emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, fear, and sadness). The Dependence/Incompetence and Entitlement/Grandiosity schemas were significant predictors for detecting neutral faces and discriminating between faces with and without emotion, while the Abandonment/Instability schema additionally proved significant for recognizing neutral faces. Limitations and suggestions for future elaboration are acknowledged.