scholarly journals Examining the Factorial Structure of the Maternal Separation Anxiety Scale in a Portuguese Sample

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryse Guedes ◽  
Lígia Monteiro ◽  
António J. Santos ◽  
Nuno Torres ◽  
Manuela Veríssimo

The increase in women’s labor market participation emphasizes the importance of understanding maternal separation anxiety, that is, the unpleasant maternal emotional state, due to the actual or anticipated short-term separation from the child. Drawing on the insights of the attachment and psychoanalytic perspectives, the Maternal Separation Anxiety Scale (MSAS) was developed to overcome existing measurement gaps. However, prior research did not replicate its original three-factor structure in the contemporary context and in other cultural settings, using large samples composed of mothers of preschool children. This study aimed to examine the factorial structure of the MSAS in a sample of 597 Portuguese mothers of children aged 5–84 months who completed the questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) conducted in subsample 1 revealed a four-factor structure: Maternal Negative Feelings, Beliefs about Exclusive Maternal Care, Need of Proximity, and Perceptions of Separation Benefits for Children. Confirmatory factor analyses conducted in subsample 2 revealed that the original three-factor structure revealed a poor fit, whereas the four-factor solution (obtained in the EFA) revealed an acceptable fit. As in previous studies, our findings report deviations from the original three-factor structure of the MSAS. Three of the newly identified factors seem to reflect specific sub-dimensions that originally guided item development in the MSAS, namely, maternal negative feelings, maternal attitudes about the value of exclusive maternal care, and the need of proximity with the child. The last factor appears to represent a refinement of original items pertaining to perceptions about separation effects for children.

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol J. Dashiff ◽  
Michael Weaver

Separation anxiety as an experience of parents of adolescents remains underinvestigated. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to assess parental separation anxiety of mothers and fathers of adolescent sons and daughters, that is, the Parental Separation Anxiety Scale (PSAS). The Maternal Separation Anxiety Scale was adapted to address this purpose. Three studies were conducted to assess item performance, internal consistency and test–retest reliability, and construct and predictive validity. Internal consistency reliability ranged from 0.91 to 0.93 across samples. Factor analysis indicated four factors with a primary factor (70% of variance) that was consistent with attachment theory. Parental separation anxiety was negatively associated with global relationship quality (r = –0.23, p = .01). Maternal separation anxiety was negatively associated with cognitive autonomy of sons (r = –0.34, p = .05), while paternal separation anxiety was positively associated with cognitive autonomy of daughters (r = 0.20, p = .05). It was concluded that the final 18-item PSAS has good psychometric qualities and is appropriate for use with parents of chronically ill and healthy adolescents.


1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Teresa Muñoz Sastre ◽  
Etienne Mullet ◽  
Christèle Semin

Summary: The present work was aimed at assessing the factorial structure of Gottfredson's (1981) cognitive map of occupations. Participants, 500 Spanish pupils aged 14 years, were presented 129 occupations derived from Shinar's (1975) questionnaire, and asked to rate each occupation on one of 10 different scales derived from Gottfredson 's work: femininity, masculinity, prestige, income, realistic, research, artistic, social, entrepreneurial, and conventional. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the 129 × 10 matrix of means. The best solution was found to be a three-factor solution, with an independent social status factor and two correlated factors: gender and creativity.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney F. Fisher ◽  
Alison S. O'Brien ◽  
Louis C. Buffardi ◽  
Carol J. Erdwins

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul K. Presson ◽  
Steven C. Clark ◽  
Victor A. Benassi

Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the factor structure of several versions of Levenson's (1973) locus of control scales. Two- and three-factor models based on all 24 of Levenson's items and on 20 of her items were tested. The 3-factor models provided a good fit. Models proposed by R. M. Shewchuk, G. A. Foelker Jr., and G. Niederehe (1990) and R. M. Shewchuk, G. A Foelker Jr., C. J. Camp, and F. Blanchard-Fields (1992) also provided a good fit of the data. In concurrent and prospective tests of the predictive ability of the various models, the 24 and 20 item versions of Levenson's models accounted for a significant amount of variance In depressive symptomatology. The three-factor models revealed that only scores on the chance scale reliably predicted time 2 depressive symptomatology. Neither of the models proposed by Shewchuk and colleagues accounted for a significant amount of variance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Fernández-Capo ◽  
Silvia Recoder ◽  
Juana Gómez-Benito ◽  
María Gámiz ◽  
Pilar Gual ◽  
...  

<p>Introduction: The Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivation (TRIM-18) Inventory is an instrument that assesses episodic forgiveness. This scale is composed of three subscales: <em>avoidance</em>, <em>revenge</em> and <em>benevolence</em>. The present study examined the dimensionality of the Spanish version of the TRIM-18 (TRIM-18-S) and provided evidence of validity and reliability. Method: A total of 943 participants completed the TRIM-18-S.  A subset of 277 participants completed additional measures of empathy, anger, and information regarding the relation with the offender. Results: The TRIM-18-S showed good psychometric properties, and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-factor structure. Conclusions: The scale presents adequate psychometric properties for its potential use in a Spanish population.</p><p> </p>


2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 670-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaia Lasa Aristu ◽  
Francisco Pablo Holgado Tello ◽  
Miguel Ángel Carrasco Ortiz ◽  
María Victoria del Barrio Gándara

The present study examined the structure of Bryant's Empathy Index (BEI) using different samples for conducting exploratory and confirmatory analyses. The BEI was administered to a sample of 2,714 children (mean age 11.12, SD = 1.59). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed a three-factor structure: Feelings of Sadness, Understanding Feelings and Tearful Reaction. The results revealed both the multidimensionality of the instrument and appropriate fit indices for the model proposed. Although these results were very similar to those reported in other studies with a Spanish population, the analyses were conducted in a more robust way: with a larger sample and using polychoric correlations and cross validation estimation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-217
Author(s):  
Leilani A. Madrigal ◽  
Vincenzo Roma ◽  
Todd Caze ◽  
Arthur Maerlender ◽  
Debra Hope

This study aimed to provide further psychometric validation of the Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2) by assessing the factor structure, invariance across gender, and convergent and divergent validity of the SAS-2 by correlating both related (i.e., anxiety sensitivity, brief fear of negative evaluation, intolerance of uncertainty, and negative affect) and unrelated constructs (i.e., positive affect, self-confidence). A total of 542 current and former competitive athletes completed a questionnaire through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk system. All data were collected via online survey. Participants were randomly assigned to an exploratory factor analysis (n = 271) and confirmatory factor analysis group (n = 271). Results indicated that both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the three-factor model of anxiety involving somatic anxiety, worry, and concentration disruption. Additionally, this study found the SAS-2 to be reliable, gender invariant, and have strong construct validity. Our findings extend the generalizability of the SAS-2 in more varied populations of athletic backgrounds.


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