A GENDER-BASED COMPARATIVE AND MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Psychological disorders such as perceived stress, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder, and depression frequently co-occur among young adults, suggesting a shared underlying dimension of psychopathology. This study examined the predictive effects of perceived stress, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and depression on panic disorder and explored their latent factor structure using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A cross-sectional quantitative design was employed with 268 young adults who completed standardized self-report measures. Data were analysed using multiple regression and PCA in IBM SPSS Statistics. The regression model significantly predicted panic disorder, explaining 51.7% of the variance (R² = .517). Generalized anxiety (β = .510, p .001) emerged as the strongest predictor, followed by depression (β = .235, p .001), whereas perceived stress and social anxiety were not significant independent predictors. PCA demonstrated excellent sampling adequacy (KMO = .823), and a single component with an eigenvalue of 3.242 explained 64.84% of the total variance, with strong factor loadings (.713–.870). These findings support transdiagnostic models by indicating that stress, anxiety, panic, and depression reflect a common dimension of psychological distress and highlight the need for integrated assessment and intervention strategies targeting shared emotional vulnerabilities.