An investigation of negative affectivity in Australian adolescents

Investigated the relation between anxiety and depression in a sample of 783 nonreferred adolescents from metropolitan and rural areas of Melbourne, Australia. Participants were administered the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (Reynolds dr Richmond, 1985) and the Reynolds's Adolescent Depression Scale (Reynolds, 1986). Correlations showed that anxiety and depression were closely related. However, exploratory factor analyses revealed that depression and anxiety items loaded on separate and quite distinct factors. These findings are discussed with reference to the construct of negative affectivity and Clark and Watson's (1991) tripartite model of anxiety and depression.