Demonstrated that the extra-factor phenomenon (the two-dimensional solution produced when linear factor analysis is applied to a set of unfoldable items) arises because the metric unidimensional unfolding model is equivalent to the unidimensional quadratic factor model and the unidimensional quadratic factor model is not distinguishable from the…

Considers P. Schonemann's simulation study in light of the multigroup principal component analysis model and interprets it as a study of the specificity of Spearman correlations, given model violations. Asserts that the Spearman correlation is a suboptimal test of Spearman's hypothesis and contends that an explicit model-based approach should be…

This paper describes an initial attempt to assess the subjective well-being of a sample of 227 Tongans via self-report. Using items adapted from the Subjective Well Being Inventory (SUBI; Nagpal and Sell, 1985; Sell and Nagpal, 1992), participants rated their level of overall life satisfaction along with their perceptions of well-being in a number…

Background: Understanding arithmetical principles is a key part of a conceptual understanding of mathematics. However, very little attention has been paid to children's understanding of multiplicative, as compared to additive, principles. Aims: This study investigated (a) children's ability to use commutative and distributive cues to solve…

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is a statistical procedure frequently used to test the fit of data to measurement models. Published CFA studies typically report factor pattern coefficients. Few reports, however, also present factor structure coefficients, which can be essential for the accurate interpretation of CFA results. The interpretation…

Bayesian factor analysis (BFA) assumes the normal distribution of the current sample conditional on the parameters. Practical data in social and behavioral sciences typically have significant skewness and kurtosis. If the normality assumption is not attainable, the posterior analysis will be inaccurate, although the BFA depends less on the current…

Because figural reasoning tasks are often assumed to indicate fluid intelligence (gf), we investigated which aspect of figural reasoning tasks make that they tend to mark gf-the figural content itself or the high degree of abstraction in these tasks. To this end, the assessment of figural reasoning abilities by means of concrete figural task…

The author reviewed the use and interpretation of factor analysis in articles published in The Journal of Educational Research articles from 1992 to 2002. He found all major forms of factor analysis among the 25 articles that he reviewed. Exploratory factor analysis was the most common application that he found. He noted only 3 applications of…

This research had two primary objectives: 1) to broaden the sociological construct of community attachment to incorporate both social and natural environment dimensions of attachment, and 2) to examine how variations in attachment relate to two dimensions of well-being in natural amenity-rich rural communities. The specific dimensions of…

This study assessed the factor structure of the Questionnaire on Smoking Urges (QSU), a commonly used assessment of cravings for cigarettes, with a sample of smokers presenting for treatment in a smoking cessation trial. On the basis of previous research, three confirmatory factor analytic models were tested. Model 1 hypothesized a 26-item,…

In this article, the author identifies 3 main purposes of conducting confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and their different requirements on goodness-of-fit assessment. For a better understanding of fit indices, he proposes a hierarchical classification scheme based on J. S. Tanaka's (1993) multifaceted conceptions and discusses how to assess…

The present paper shows that the usual factor analytic structured data dispersion matrix lambda psi lambda' + delta can readily arise from a set of scores y = lambda eta + epsilon, shere the "common" (eta) and "unique" (epsilon) factors have nonzero covariance: gamma = Cov epsilon,eta) is not equal to 0. Implications of this finding are discussed…

International undergraduate students attending U.S. colleges completed a common ?hassles? assessment, the Inventory of College Students? Recent Life Experiences (ICSRLE). Previous structure and validation studies with this measure have been limited to North American students. Using exploratory and confirmatory analyses, a distinct structure of 6…

This study represents an effort to better understand the latent structure of anxiety sensitivity (AS), as indexed by the 16-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; S. Reiss, R. A. Peterson, M. Gursky, & R. J. McNally, 1986), by using taxometric and factor-analytic approaches in an integrative manner. Taxometric analyses indicated that AS has a…

Purpose: Many researchers have studied the acoustics, physiology, and perceptual characteristics of the voice source, but despite significant attention, it remains unclear which aspects of the source should be quantified and how measurements should be made. In this study, the authors examined the relationships among a number of existing measures…