The factorial structure and external validity of the prospective and retrospective memory questionnaire in older adults

Abstract

The factorial structure of the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) was investigated in a sample of 336 older adults (aged 66-81years). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that a bifactor model of two correlated factors of prospective and retrospective memory problems and two uncorrelated group factors of positively and negatively worded items had the best fit. Such a model can be seen as a multitrait-multi-method model that separates the substantive and methodological components among the items of the PRMQ. Correlations of the four factors with external criteria (affect, neuroticism, prospective, and retrospective memory performance) revealed that the item wording factors mainly correlate with the affect variables, whereas the prospective and retrospective memory problem factors were differentially associated with memory performance. As a conceptual conclusion, these differential correlations give support to the discriminant validity of subjective prospective versus retrospective memory problems.