Hierarchical models of common and specific liabilities have been proposed to account for the significant comorbidity between anxiety and depressive spectrum disorders. The two-factor models suggests that major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder share a distress liability whereas social phobia, specific phobia, and agoraphobia share a fear liability. The purpose of the present study was to build upon former research on positive and negative affect as temperament indicators of fear and distress by examining a more comprehensive set of adult temperament markers. Participants, including 400 undergraduate students, completed dimensional measures of mood and anxiety disorder symptoms (i.e., major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, and specific phobia), as well as the short version of the Adult Temperament Questionnaire (ATQ). Structural equation modeling was utilized to determine the hierarchical structure of the assessed mood and anxiety disorders. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test temperament dimensions as common or specific markers of mood and anxiety disorders. The best fitting model showed that negative affect, positive affect, and effortful control were primary temperament markers of mood and anxiety disorders. While the role of negative affect and positive affect has been validated in previous hierarchical models, this study is the first to provide evidence for the role of effortful control in hierarchical models of mood and anxiety disorders. These findings lend further support to the role of temperament in the development of mood and anxiety disorders.
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