Sons and daughters' perception of parents as a couple: distinguishing characteristics of a measurement model

• Autor(a) principal: Ziviani,Cilio
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Féres-Carneiro,Terezinha, Magalhães,Andrea Seixas
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Psicologia (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-79722011000100005
• topic: Parents' marital relationship; Circumplex structure; Möbius strip; Confirmatory factor analysis

Perceptions and memories that youths may have of their parents' marital relationship were addressed by a self-report questionnaire, composed by 26 Likert scale items which were taken to constitute the "Perception of Parents as a Couple" instrument. Answers from 1,612 male and female youths produced a matrix of non-negative correlations. The sample was randomly split into calibrating and validating subsamples of 806 people each. Exploratory factor and principal component analyses present a circular plot of loading s after the first and second extractions. In the latter, pairs of similar magnitude, but of opposing signs, not only convey theoretical meaning, but also entail an order - Guttman's circular law of order. A specification search, through a confirmatory factor analysis, performed under a measurement model presenting three pairs of opposing-signs and cross-loaded variables, generated a downward chi-square value for each indicated parameter respecification. Following that ordered list top-down, ten other items were specified to cross-load in the model. Once tested, running the validating subsample data, satisfactory fit indices were obtained. We propose the Möbius strip as a functional analogue to model this kind of circular ordering. Finally, we nominate two theoretical orientations for further research on the explanation of results - the generational psychic transmission reviewed in the introduction contrasted to the cognitive unconscious theory.