Examining an obsessive-compulsive core dimensions model: Structural validity of harm avoidance and incompleteness

Building upon work by Rasmussen and Eisen, our group has proposed a model comprising two core motivational dimensions underlying obsessive-compulsive symptoms: harm avoidance and incompleteness. The model has received increasing attention; however the structural soundness and divergence of its factors are yet to be investigated fully, either as symptom-specific motivations for clinical OCD symptoms or as stylistic traits in the nonclinical population. This paper presents four studies designed to investigate the structural validity of harm avoidance and incompleteness in clinical and nonclinical samples. Results yielded support across the method of assessment (interview, questionnaire), level of generality (symptom-specific state, trait), and population (clinical, nonclinical). Evidence was also found of the model׳s method invariance, with both factors strongly self-associated across method forms when ascertained as symptom-specific motivations. The results provide support for key assertions of the core dimensions model and also point to the utility of the interviewer-rated and questionnaire measures developed during this work: the Obsessive-Compulsive Core Dimensions Interview (OC-CDI) and Core Dimensions Questionnaire (OC-CDQ). Clinical and theoretical implications and challenges for future research are discussed.