Confirmatory Factor Analytic Procedures Research Articles

Flow and outdoor adventure recreation: Using flow measures to re-examine motives for participation

Adventure participants have traditionally been viewed as having thrill or risk-seeking motives, and this perception remains despite empirical research suggesting that other motives may drive participation. This study was conducted to extend understanding of participation motives of adventure recreation participants in relation to Csiksentmihalyi’s nine-dimension model of flow and other proposed motivational constructs. Participants (n = 199) who had typically engaged in their adventure recreation activity (i.e., highlining, rock climbing, downhill mountain biking, freefalling, snow sports) regularly, and with considerable competence, took part in this investigation by completing self-report measures of dispositional flow (The Dispositional Flow Scale; DFS-2), state flow (The Short Flow State Scale; SFSS), and participation motives in their adventure recreation environments. Support was observed in confirmatory factor analytic procedures for the factorial validity of DFS-2 and SFSS data obtained from adventure recreation participants. Mean scores from measures on participant experience of flow in adventure recreation were generally found to be significantly higher than previously observed in other physical activity domains, with some differences also being observed among adventure recreation subgroups. Contrary to traditional explanations of adventure recreation participation, risk-seeking was not supported as a key underlying motive by participants in this study. Mastery of one’s adventure recreation activity, perceived connection to one’s activity, and trust in one’s skills, were identified as important participation motives. This study demonstrated that the DFS-2 and SFSS were able to satisfactorily assess flow constructs in adventure recreation, and supported recent research demonstrating flow to be a relevant experience to this setting. The implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research directions in adventure recreation are discussed.

Relationships between fear of COVID-19, cyberchondria, intolerance of uncertainty, and obsessional probabilistic inferences: A structural equationmodel.

The study was set out to explore the structural relationships between fear of COVID‐19, cyberchondria, intolerance of uncertainty, and obsessional probabilistic inferences. The data were recruited online from a community population (n = 1,049) subjected to a confirmatory factor analytic procedure. The structural model specified according to the previous findings in the literature showed that a general tendency to negative expectations in terms of probabilistic thinking was significantly associated with both COVID‐19‐related‐fear and intolerance of uncertainty. Fear of COVID‐19 was significantly associated with cyberchondria. Probabilistic thinking style and intolerance of uncertainty contributed to cyberchondria through fear of COVID‐19 as well. We concluded that a tendency to engage in a probabilistic thinking style and intolerance of uncertainty seems to play role in the etiology of fear of infection and cyberchondria.

Psychometric Properties of a New Stress-Related Personality Scale: The Virtual Inventory of Behavior and Emotions (VIBE)

Background: Personality traits are important factors with regard to the tendency to experience and response to stress. This study introduces and tests a new stress-related personality scale called the Virtual Inventory of Behavior and Emotions (VIBE). Methods: Two samples totaling 5512 individuals (with 66% between the ages of 18 and 34) completed the VIBE along with other measures of personality, stress, mood, and well-being. Results: Exploratory factor analyses revealed a four-factor structure for the instrument with dimensions labeled: 1) stressed; 2) energetic; 3) social; and 4) disciplined. Confirmatory factor analytic procedures on the final 23-item version showed good psychometric properties and data fit while machine learning analyses demonstrated the VIBE's ability to distinguish between groups with similar patterns of response. Strong convergent validity was suggested through robust correlations between the dimensions of the VIBE and other established rating scales. Conclusion: Overall, the data suggest that the VIBE is a promising tool to help advance understanding of the relations between stress, personality, and related constructs.

Psychometric properties of the LifeSkills Training middle school health survey

AbstractLifeSkills Training (LST) is a popular drug prevention program shown to be effective at preventing youth substance use. The Middle School Health Survey (MSHS) is a questionnaire that was created by the developers of the LST curriculum to measure changes in knowledge and attitudes about drugs and life skills among youth. Despite the widespread use of the MSHS, the measurement quality of the instrument is largely unknown because no prior research has evaluated its psychometric properties. This study evaluated the reliability of scores and factor structure of the MSHS, which was administered to 986 students (Grades 6–8) before the implementation of the LST curriculum. Results indicate that one of the subscales had poor internal consistency reliability as measured by Cronbach's alpha, which is likely due to restricted variability in item responses. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures indicated that a three‐ or four‐factor solution fit the data; however, fewer than half of the items had loadings above the acceptable threshold, indicating that the MSHS requires modification to meet acceptable standards of measurement quality. This paper fills a void in the literature and informs if and which modifications to the MSHS might be necessary.

A pilot study of reliability and validity of Turkish version of West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory in patients with low back pain

Background: West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMPI), used in the evaluation of patients with chronic pain including behavioral and cognitive assessment, is a multidimensional pain scale consisting of three main sections and 12 subscales. The validity of this inventory has been supported by various study results of confirmatory and exploratory factor analytic procedures. The aim of our present study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the Turkish form of the West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMPI-T).
 Methodology: 41 patients, with a minimum 3 mon history for chronic non-specific low back pain, without previous surgical history, neurological and rheumatic diseases, and without communication problem; completed Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) scales. The measurements were repeated in fifth days.
 Results: Significant difference between WHYMPI-T lower and upper group averages was found. Internal consistency analysis of the scale, Cronbach's α coefficient ranged from 0.93 to 0.99 for B and C sections. All the items of A, B and C sections were found compatible with each other in the item analyses and scale test-retest results were congruent with each other. Between WHYMPI-T subscales and BPI, MPQ, BDI, SF-36 scales, a positive correlation was observed.
 Conclusion: The results of our study confirm that WHYMPI-T is a valid and reliable instrument which can be used for the evaluation of chronic non-specific low back pain.
 Key words: West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory; WHYMPI; WHYMPI-T; Low back pain; Validity; Reliability
 Citation: Gulcelik GE, Malkoc M, Aysel Yildiz Ozer AY. A pilot study of reliability and validity of Turkish version of West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory in patients with low back pain. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2020;24(5):
 Received: 13 September 2020, Reviewed: 17 September 2020, Accepted: 23 September 2020

Factor structure of the family climate for road safety scale in emerging adults in the United States

The Family Climate for Road Safety Scale (FCRSS) was developed to measure parenting behaviors specific to the driving context. The original validation study found a scale structure composed of seven factors. However, this structure has not been consistently replicated. Two- and six-factor structures have also been identified. Further, this measure has not been validated in the U.S. and has not been subjected to measurement invariance testing to determine the factor structure’s suitability across sex. Additionally, its ability to predict the driving style of emerging adults with varied driving experience has not been directly examined. The current study utilized exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures to identify the factor structure of the FCRSS in a sample of emerging adults in the U.S. The sample consisted of 4392 students recruited from six universities. The sample was predominantly female (68.8 %), and was 83.5 % White, 6.1 % Black or African American, 5.1 % Asian American, 4.6 % biracial or multiracial, 0.4 % American Indian or Alaskan Native, and 0.2 % Pacific Islander or Hawaiian. Results indicated that a five-factor model of the FCRSS provided the best fit to the data compared to one-, two-, six-, and seven-factor models. The five factors identified for the model were: Noncommitment, Monitoring, Feedback, Communication, and Modeling. Further, invariance testing revealed that the five-factor model fit equally well for males and females. Some factors of the FCRSS predicted driving outcomes and driving styles in the expected directions. These findings have implications for family/parenting-based driving interventions for adolescents and young adults.

Psychometric Evaluation of Lexical Diversity Indices in Spanish Narrative Samples From Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to examine construct validity evidence for the following 4 lexical diversity measures for use in Spanish narrative samples of children with developmental language disorder and typical language development (TLD): (a) type-token ratio (TTR; Chotlos, 1944 ; Templin, 1957 ), (b) hypergeometric distribution D ( McCarthy & Jarvis, 2010 ), (c) measure of textual lexical diversity (MTLD; McCarthy, 2005 ), and (d) moving-average TTR (MATTR; Covington & McFall, 2010 ). Method A multiple-group, confirmatory factor analytic stepwise procedure was applied to examine factorial invariance in a sample of 435 monolingual Spanish-speaking children (335 with TLD and 100 with specific language impairment). Results MATTR was the strongest indicator of the lexical diversity of a sample and demonstrated measurement invariance across children with TLD and specific language impairment. MTLD scores included some noise at different levels as a function of the length of a sample, especially for short language samples, but differences in relation to MATTR were relatively small. The validity of hypergeometric distribution D and TTR score interpretations was low, as the scores covaried systematically with length, with TTR being the poorest measure of lexical diversity. Conclusion Results support the use of MATTR and MTLD as measures of lexical diversity and should assist clinicians and researchers in the selection of lexical diversity measures to minimize bias in score interpretations when conducting language sample analyses.

The maximum likelihood alignment approach to testing for approximate measurement invariance: A paradigmatic cross-cultural application.

The impracticality of using the confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) approach in testing measurement invariance across many groups is now well known. A concertedeffort to addressing these encumbrances over the last decade has resulted in a new generation of alternative methodological procedures that allow for approximate, rather than exact measurement invariance across groups. The purpose of this article is twofold: (a) to describe and illustrate common difficulties encountered when tests for multigroup invariance are based on traditional CFA procedures and the number of groups is large, and (b) to walk readers through the maximum likelihood (ML) alignment approach in testing for approximate measurement invariance. Data for this example application derive from an earlier study of family functioning across 30 cultures that include responses to the Family Values Scale for 5,482 university students drawn from 27 of these30 countries. Analyses were based on the Mplus 7.4 program. Whereas CFA tests for invariance revealed 108 misspecified parameters that precluded tests for latent mean differences, noninvariant results were well within the acceptable range for the alignment approach thereby substantiating the trustworthiness of the latent mean estimates and their comparison across groups. The alignment approach in testing for approximate measurement invariance provides an automated procedure that can overcome important limitations of traditional CFA procedures in large-scale comparisons.

Bully Perpetration and Self-Esteem: Examining the Relation Over Time

School-aged youth face a number of academic and behavioral challenges within the educational environment, including bullying involvement. Unfortunately, bullying has been linked to a number of detrimental psychosocial outcomes. Scholars have attempted to establish predictive profiles for youth involved in bullying. These profiles include bully perpetrators, where it has been argued that self-esteem is predictive of bullying behaviors. To address this association, the current study examined the relation between self-esteem and bully perpetration among 971 middle school youth through a longitudinal structural equation model. A three-step confirmatory factor analytic procedure determined that bully perpetration and self-esteem were metrically invariant and stable over time. The structural model suggested that bully perpetration at Time 1 predicted bully perpetration at Time 2, and self-esteem at Time 1 predicted self-esteem at Time 2. However, self-esteem at Time 1 did not predict bully perpetration at Time 2, and bully perpetration at Time 1 did not predict self-esteem at Time 2. These results suggest that students who engage in bully perpetration do not have higher or lower levels of self-esteem when compared with their peers who do not engage in bullying. Future research should continue to examine predictive factors associated with bully perpetration.

Purpose-in-Life Test: Comparison of the Main Models in Patients with Mental Disorders.

The aim of this study was to compare the main proposed models for the Purpose-In-Life Test, a scale for assessing meaning in life, in 229 Spanish patients with mental disorders (195 females and 34 males, aged 13-68, M = 34.43, SD = 12.19). Confirmatory factor-analytic procedures showed that the original model of the Purpose-In-Life Test, a 20-item unidimensional scale, obtained a better fit than the other analyzed models, SBχ2(df) = 326.27(170), SBχ2/df = 1.92, TLI = .93, CFI = .94, IFI = .94, RMSEA = .063 (90% CI [.053, .074]), CAIC = -767.46, as well as a high internal consistency, (α = .90). The main conclusion is that the original version of the Purpose-In-Life shows a robust construct validity in a clinical population. However, authors recommend an in-depth psychometric analysis of the Purpose-In-Life Test among clinical population. Likewise, the importance of assessing meaning in life in order to enhance psychotherapeutic treatment is noted.

Scenes for Social Information Processing in Adolescence: Item and factor analytic procedures for psychometric appraisal.

Relatively little is known about measures used to investigate the validity and applications of social information processing theory. The Scenes for Social Information Processing in Adolescence includes items built using a participatory approach to evaluate the attribution of intent, emotion intensity, response evaluation, and response decision steps of social information processing. We evaluated a sample of 802 Portuguese adolescents (61.5% female; mean age = 16.44 years old) using this instrument. Item analysis and exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures were used for psychometric examination. Two measures for attribution of intent were produced, including hostile and neutral; along with 3 emotion measures, focused on negative emotional states; 8 response evaluation measures; and 4 response decision measures, including prosocial and impaired social behavior. All of these measures achieved good internal consistency values and fit indicators. Boys seemed to favor and choose overt and relational aggression behaviors more often; girls conveyed higher levels of neutral attribution, sadness, and assertiveness and passiveness. The Scenes for Social Information Processing in Adolescence achieved adequate psychometric results and seems a valuable alternative for evaluating social information processing, even if it is essential to continue investigation into its internal and external validity.

Extended Validation Study of the Thinking and Creative Style Scale: Development of a Shorter Version

ABSTRACT There are several measures of cognition and creative styles, however few of them are valid and short enough to be administered in different settings. Therefore, this study had two purposes: to reanalyze and obtain validity evidence of the Scale of Thinking and Creative Scale (STCS), developed by Wechsler, measuring five styles, based on a progression of increasingly rigorous exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures, and (b) to provide a viable psychometrically sound short version of this scale. Based on a sample of 1,752 Brazilians (55% women; ages 14 to 70) living in four states (93% from Sao Paulo), results strongly supported five dimensions of thinking and creative style, thus indicating the validity and reliability of the abridged STCS version.

Exploratory bifactor analysis of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fifth Edition with the 16 primary and secondary subtests

Despite substantial revisions involved in creating the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fifth Edition (WISC-V; Wechsler, 2014a), the test publisher relied exclusively upon confirmatory factor analytic procedures to determine the instrument's structure and failed to apportion the variance among factors and subtests. To fill this lacuna, the factor structure of the 16 primary and secondary subtests of the WISC-V standardization sample was examined with exploratory bifactor analysis (EBFA). EBFA results provided strong support for a general intelligence (g) factor, but nominal evidence for three group factors (i.e., Processing Speed, Working Memory, and Perceptual Reasoning). There was no evidence for distinct verbal, fluid reasoning or visual–spatial factors. The g factor accounted for large portions of total and common subtest variance while the group factors accounted for negligible portions of total and common variance. These results suggest that clinical interpretation of the WISC-V should reside primarily at the global level (i.e., Full Scale IQ).

Meaning-Related and Print-Related Interactions Between Preschoolers and Parents During Shared Book Reading and Their Associations With Emergent Literacy Skills

This study examined interactions between preschool children and parents during shared book reading by analyzing parental self-report data. Using confirmatory factor analytic procedures and structural equation modeling, this study developed a scale measuring meaning-related and print-related reading interactions and examined their associations with children’s emergent literacy skills. Based on a sample of 242 participants, this study confirmed a two-factor model of shared book-reading interactions: meaning- and print-related interactions. The study also demonstrated that meaning-related interactions were significantly related to children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary and that print-related interactions were significantly associated with their letter-name knowledge. Additional findings indicated that while reading together, parents and their preschool children reported a greater focus on the contents of the story than on the printed letters or words. Compared to less educated mothers, mothers with higher levels of education reported engaging more frequently in meaning-related interactions with their children during shared reading. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT)

ObjectiveOf many instruments developed to assess Internet addiction, the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), an expanded version of the Internet Addiction Diagnostic Questionnaire (IADQ), has been the most widely used scale in English and non-English speaking populations. In this study, our aim was to investigate the psychometric properties of short and expanded versions of the IAT in a Turkish undergraduate sample. MethodOverall, 455 undergraduate students from Turkey aged between 18 and 30 participated in the study (63.53% were females). Explanatory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures investigated factor structures of the IADQ and IAT. The Internet Addiction Scale (IAS), Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), Obsessive Compulsive Inventory—Revised (OCI-R) and Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) were administered to assess convergent and divergent validities of the IADQ and IAT. Internal consistency and 15-day test–retest reliability were computed. ResultsIn the factorial analytic investigation, we found a unidimensional factor structure for each measure fit the current data best. Significant but weak to moderate correlations of the IADQ and the IAT with the CISS, OCI-R and DES provided empirical evidence for divergent validity, whereas strong associations with the subscales of the IAS pointed to the convergent validity of Young's Internet addiction construct. Internal consistency of the IADQ was weak (α=0.67) and of the IAT was high (α=0.93). Temporal reliability of both instruments was very high (α=0.81 and α=0.87; respectively). ConclusionThe IAT revealed promising and sound psychometric properties in a Turkish sample.

Perceived variety, psychological needs satisfaction and exercise-related well-being

Objective: Perceived variety represents a psychosocial experience that gives rise to, and supports the maintenance of, an individual’s well-being. In this study, we developed an instrument to measure perceived variety in exercise (PVE), and examined whether ratings of PVE predict unique variance in indices of exercise-related well-being in addition to that explained by satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs (for competence, relatedness and autonomy) embedded within self-determination theory (SDT). We also examined the extent to which variance in perceived variety is empirically distinct from (or subsumed by) competence, relatedness and autonomy in the context of exercise.Methods: A convenience sample of community adults (N = 507) completed online surveys twice over a six-week period (n = 367).Results: PVE was found to prospectively predict unique variance in indices of exercise-related well-being, in addition to that explained by perceived competence, relatedness and autonomy. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures, perceived variety was found to be empirically distinct from perceived competence, relatedness and autonomy.Conclusion: Results from this work suggest that perceived variety holds potential for theoretical and applied advancements in understanding and predicting well-being in exercise settings.

Measuring Search for Meaning: A Factor-Analytic Evaluation of the Seeking of Noetic Goals Test (SONG)

This study’s primary purpose was to examine the factor structure of the 20-item Seeking of Noetic Goals (SONG) test via exploratory and confirmatory factor-analytic procedures. An additional objective was to report on the measure’s incremental validity in comparison to the Search scale of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), an alternative measure of search for meaning. This study utilized data from three samples of American undergraduates (N = 908) from a medium-sized southern university. Factor analysis supported a two-factor model of the SONG, with patterns of correlation further suggesting the measure assesses distinct constructs. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated similar scale structure and item answering in terms of gender. Overall, the first factor yielded reliable scores that correlated significantly and in the expected direction with measures of well-being and psychological distress. The second factor did not yield reliable scores nor did it correlate significantly with many of the other measures administered. However, both factors were shown to significantly predict scores from measures of depression and general psychological distress after controlling for MLQ Search scale scores. We consider the data with respect to SONG scoring and interpretation, and discuss implications of these data for future research.

A meta-analysis of the influence of gender on self-determination theory's motivational regulations for physical activity.

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a motivation metatheory that has received significant empirical support across several contexts of human behaviour. The motivational regulations as espoused by SDT refer to differing degrees of self-determination that individuals can demonstrate toward their behaviour. In particular, the regulations have received strong empirical support as predictors of exercise. However, literature in this domain has revealed inconsistent findings with respect to gender on levels of motivational regulations. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine differences between men and women on SDT’s motivational regulations for exercise using studies that employed the Behavioural Regulations in Exercise Questionnaire (E. Mullan, D. Markland, & D. K. Ingledew, 1997, A graded conceptualisation of self-determination in the regulation of exercise behaviour: Development of a measure using confirmatory factor analytic procedures. Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 23, pp. 745–752.). A total of 27 studies contributed total effect sizes (Hedge’s g) of gender differences, which were computed independently for each of the regulations, as well as for a composite self-determination score. Overall, results from random-effects models revealed near-zero effect sizes, thus representing negligible differences between men and women on each of the regulations. The findings with respect to SDT’s fundamental principles of universality across genders are carefully interpreted in light of existing research of gender invariance and with suggestions for future work.

Development and Validation of the Prolonged Activation and Anticipatory Race-Related Stress Scale

This article describes two separate studies that were conducted to develop and validate a measure of the prolonged stress activation and anticipatory race-related stress response in African American adults (Prolonged Activation and Anticipatory Race-Related Stress Scale [PARS]). In Study 1, an exploratory factor analytic procedure ( N = 292) resulted in a17-item measure with four underlying factors: (a) Perseverative Cognition, (b) Secondary Appraisal, (c) Anticipatory Race-Related Stress Scale–Psychological, and (d) Anticipatory Race-Related Stress Scale–Physiological. In Study 2 ( N = 227), a confirmatory factor analytic procedure was conducted to evaluate and compare the underlying factor structure for several competing models of the PARS. This procedure supported a four-factor oblique solution as having the best fit to the data. Study 2 also provided evidence for the convergent validity of the PARS in that its factor scores correlated, in the anticipated direction, with scores on measures of related constructs.

Understanding Men's Aggression in Bars: Development of the Beliefs and Attitudes toward Male Alcohol‐Related Aggression (BAMARA) Inventory

While several qualitative studies suggest that beliefs and attitudes are important in explaining men's alcohol-related aggression, no quantitative instrument measuring men's beliefs and attitudes about male alcohol-related aggression has been developed. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a theoretically based multidimensional inventory measuring Beliefs and Attitudes toward Male Alcohol-Related Aggression (BAMARA) consisting of 9 dimensions: (i) expected negative consequences; (ii) expected positive consequences; (iii) personal approval; (iv) perceived male peer approval; (v) perceived female peer approval; (vi) perceived normality; (vii) relaxed norms when drinking; (viii) alcohol as an excuse; and (ix) male honor/protection of masculinity. A random sample of 1,343 young adult male college and university students participated in an online survey. Item analyses using confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) and item-response theory (IRT) procedures were conducted to select a refined pool of items promoting high internal consistency and discriminant validity of the 9 scales. We evaluated the criterion validity of the 9 scales, the BAMARA total score (BAMARA-Total), and a short form of the inventory (BAMARA-SF) in terms of their association with experiences of barroom aggression and other theoretically linked constructs. CFA and IRT analyses resulted in a 53-item inventory consisting of the 9 scales with adequate model fit and good internal consistency indices. Criterion validity was demonstrated, with the BAMARA scales correlating well with reports of actual experiences of aggression in bars. BAMARA-Total and BAMARA-SF were found to be significantly associated with barroom aggression controlling for a number of important control variables. This new instrument is expected to have many important applications in the male aggression literature, with the full BAMARA being employed for the assessment of specific beliefs and attitudes and the BAMARA-SF used as a general attitudinal measure.