Family stress is examined across normative, moderate-risk, and high-risk samples with particular focus on the development of scales measuring components of stress from a single "daily hassles" questionnaire. A three-factor model, including interpersonal tension, financial problems, and child-related difficulties, was developed using confirmatory…

Examined the optimal value of "k" for promax factor rotations through a Monte Carlo study involving 10,080 factor analyses. Results show that in factor-analytic studies using promax, the value of "k" may be set appropriately at 2, 3, or 4. (Author/SLD)

Using middle school students (N=1,454), examines the factor structure of the Coping Resources Inventory Scale for Educational Enhancement (CRISEE), an instrument designed to measure coping resources in youth. Results provide evidence that the CRISEE may be a reliable measure of dimensionally distinct types of coping resources. (Author/MKA)

Responds to Kranzler and Keith (this issue) by providing data from a data-driven approach that suggests the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) has validity. Provides evidence that the interpretation of the planning, attention, simultaneous and successive (PASS Scales) theory described in the "CAS Interpretive Handbook" is well supported.…

Takes several goodness-of-fit statistics as measures of variable selection and develops backward elimination and forward selection procedures in exploratory factor analysis. A newly developed variable selection program, SEFA, can print several fit measures for a current model and models obtained by removing an internal variable or adding an…

Demonstrates the advantages for test construction, validity studies, and extensions of unidimensional item response theory (IRT) of applying classical factor-analytic treatments, based on the independent clusters concept, of confirmatory (restricted) models and exploratory (unrestricted) models to multidimensional IRT and obtaining standard…

Develops two scales based on the conceptualization of intercultural communication apprehension as the fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated interaction with people of different groups. States scales consisted of 16 items administered to 396 undergraduate student participants. Reveals a unidimensional factor structure and high…

Studied the unidimensionality of the 16 noncognitive scales of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) and the hierarchical factor structure of the inventory. Results using the Schmid Leiman orthogonalization procedure (J. Schmid and J. Leiman, 1957) showed that the noncognitive multi-item composites could be factored into 16…

Study uses confirmatory factor analysis to assess four models of the Hong Psychological Reactance Scale (HPRS) and attempts to provide psychometric information about the subscales. Results found inadequate fit for Hong's four orthogonal models but sufficient fit for two nonorthogonal models. (Contains 29 references and 3 tables.) (GCP)

Discusses sampling bias problems in the use of the greatest lower bound (g.l.b.) to reliability and offers explicit expressions for the second order derivatives. This yields closed form expression for the asymptotic bias of both the g.l.b. and its numerator. Illustrates the approach through a numeric example. (SLD)

Joint correspondence analysis is a technique for constructing reduced-dimensional representations of pairwise relationships among categorical variables. An alternating least-squares algorithm for conducting joint correspondence analysis is presented that requires fewer iterations than the algorithm previously proposed by M. J. Greenacre. (SLD)

Correspondence analysis for three-way contingency tables is presented using three-way generalizations of the singular value decomposition. It is shown that, in combination with the additive decomposition of interactions in three-way tables proposed by H. O. Lancaster, a detailed analysis of decomposition of dependence is possible. (SLD)

Investigates the structure of public relations roles. Factor analyzes G. Broom and G. Smith's role questionnaire in conjunction with items used in organizational boundary spanning. Extracts eight activity factors. Identifies four primary practitioner roles and one minor role. Refines previous public relations roles concepts. Shows by validation…

Describes four approaches to factor analysis of ordinal variables that take proper account of ordinality and compared three of these approaches with respect to parameter estimates and fit using generated data and an empirical data set. Focuses on how to test the model and how to measure model fit. (SLD)

Psychologists (n=511) rated the prototypicality of the psychopathy construct for male and female youth. Factor analysis for both genders resulted in two dimensions that reflected both personality and behavioral components of the disorder. Prototypicality ratings reveal important adult-to-child and male-to-female differences. (SLD)