Assessment of Tripartite Factors of Emotion in Children and Adolescents I: Structural Validity and Normative Data of an Affect and Arousal Scale

Abstract

The authors developed and evaluated a self-report measure for children designed to assess factors of the tripartite model of emotion (Clark & Watson, 1991). Factor analytic results from a large, multi-ethnic sample (n = 1,289) supported the structural validity of the scale, with the additional suggestion that negative affect appeared to contain two lower order dimensions in the item pool. Confirmatory factor analysis in an independent sample of 300 children and adolescents suggested favorable structure. Consistent with prediction, positive and negative affect emerged as relatively orthogonal dimensions. Physiological hyperarousal was found to be positively correlated with negative affect. Normative data are presented, and tests for differences by sex, grade level, and ethnicity demonstrated nonsignificant or minimal differences between groups. The implications for the assessment of tripartite factors and their relation to psychopathology in youth are discussed.