FACTOR-ANALYSIS OF THE ASVAB - CONFIRMING A VERNON-LIKE STRUCTURE

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) has been used i n its current item and content form for more than a decade. Its latent structure, although explored in factor analyses, has never been confi rmed. Several confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on Form 8a i n a nationally representative sample. These included a g-only model, a three-factor hierarchical Vernon-like model, 2 four-factor first-orde r models, and 2 four-factor hierarchical models. Based on fit indexes, simple structure, and parsimony in parameter estimation, the three-fa ctor hierarchical model was chosen to represent the data. The higher-o rder factor was psychometric g, and the first-order factors were inter preted as Speed, Verbal/Math, and Technical Knowledge. The latter two factors were similar to the Vernon factors of Verbal/Educational and P ractical.