Are defeat and entrapment best defined as a single construct?

Citation

Taylor PJ, Wood AM, Gooding PA, Johnson J & Tarrier N (2009) Are defeat and entrapment best defined as a single construct?. Personality and Individual Differences, 47 (7), pp. 795-797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.06.011

Abstract
The concepts of defeat and entrapment have been employed in evolutionary accounts of clinical phenomena such as depression and suicide. Recently theorists have argued that both concepts may be best conceptualised as a single distinct factor. The current study is the first to empirically test this assertion. A sample of 305 students completed measures of defeat and entrapment. Their responses were then analysed via exploratory factor analysis. The results strongly suggest that a single factor underlies both defeat and entrapment. These findings have considerable implications for past studies and theoretical accounts that rely on the distinction between defeat and entrapment.

Keywords
Defeat; Entrapment; Factor analysis; Depression; Suicide; Inferiority complex Social aspects; Defeat (Psychology)

Journal
Personality and Individual Differences: Volume 47, Issue 7