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Disentangling Negative Affectivity and General Psychopathology in Early Childhood: A Multi-Trait Multi-Method Approach to Validity and Informant Perspectives

Harris JL, Petersen IT · 28 Jul 2026

Abstract

BackgroundChildren’s emotional and behavioral problems frequently co-occur, suggesting the existence of a general factor of psychopathology ("p factor") that accounts for the shared variance across internalizing and externalizing problems. Ongoing questions remain regarding the extent to which negative affectivity—a temperamental tendency to display observable manifestations likely reflecting negative emotions—and general psychopathology represent overlapping versus distinct constructs across early development. MethodsA community-based sample of 231 children aged 3 to 7 years participated in an accelerated longitudinal study, with assessments at four timepoints spaced nine months apart. Data were collected via multi-informant (mother, father, teacher/secondary caregiver) ratings, structured observational tasks, and standard questionnaires. This study evaluated the convergent and discriminant validity of negative affectivity and general psychopathology measures across informants and methods using multitrait-multimethod matrices while accounting for the unique perspective of the informant.ResultsFindings indicated that measures of negative affectivity and general psychopathology exhibited moderate convergent validity but also retained distinctiveness, supporting the discriminant validity in measures of these constructs. The association between the two was somewhat attenuated when controlling for informant type.ConclusionsThe results clarify that, although negative affectivity and general psychopathology are closely related in childhood, they are not redundant constructs. Additionally, the observed deflation in the association between negative affectivity and general psychopathology after accounting for the unique perspective of the informant highlights how measurement strategies—including informant source and method variance—can meaningfully alter interpretations of the associations between psychopathology and risk/protective factors. Together, these results emphasize the importance of both conceptual and methodological precision when studying the early indicators of psychopathology and suggest critical targets for early identification and intervention to promote mental health across development.