Are Associations of Neuroticism with Anxiety and Depression Best Explained by Content Overlap?
A Structural Equation Modeling Approach Authors: 1. Amanda Uliaszek [Northwestern University] 2. Richard Zinbarg [Northwestern University] 3. Susan Mineka [Northwestern University] 4. Michelle Craske [University of California, Los Angeles] Recent analyses have questioned whether content overlap has artificially inflated estimates of the associations of anxiety and depression with neuroticism. Nicholls and colleagues (1982) argued that item overlap presents a dilemma that cannot be eliminated by deleting overlapping items. Correlations might be artificially inflated due to overlapping items, yet removing items potentially decreases the construct validity of a measure. Through a series of structural equation models, the current study tests the extent to which content overlap accounts for the associations of neuroticism with depression and anxiety without removing overlapping items. In a sample of 627 adolescents, we utilized a measure of neuroticism containing 6 facets (vulnerability, se
