Measurement and mental health disparities: Psychopathology classification and identity assessment

Mental health disparities research compares groups of individuals with regard to their mental health status, and numerous studies have reported significant and burdensome disparities across populations. This literature is based almost entirely on traditional mental disorder constructs (e.g. major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder) as defined by official nosologies, but these disorders are associated with numerous problems of reliability and validity. Advances in psychopathology classification research have converged on an alternative conceptualization of mental disorder structure, which comprises a set of transdiagnostic dimensions that cut across traditional diagnostic boundaries and overcome the limitations of traditional diagnoses. The application of these dimensions, particularly those of the hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology model, holds great promise for mental health disparities research. Measurement considerations associated with these transdiagnostic dimensions, as well as participants' intersecting identities, are discussed. Incorporation of these measurement advances with statistical advances allows for the generation and testing of unique hypotheses related to minority stressors that may give rise to observed disparities.