Factor structure and validity of the affect intensity measure in a Swedishsample

Despite the fact that Larsen's [Larsen, R.J. (1984). Theory and measurement of affect intensity as an individual difference characteristic. Dissertati on Abstracts International. 85, 2297B (University Microfilms No. 84-22112.) ] Affect Intensity Measure (AIM) is a widely used measure of affect intensi ty, there is an ongoing debate concerning certain of its presumed theoretic al and statistical qualities and its basic, underlying assumptions. The deb ate has most often centered around the inventory's dimensionality; i.e., is the AIM tapping one or more dimensions of intensity? The purpose of the pr esent study was to investigate the dimensional structure of the Swedish tra nslation of the AIM, to find the best structural model for the Swedish AIM data, and to study its validity. Data from 409 subjects (153 males, 256 fem ales) were subjected to maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analysis to assess how well different structural models fit the AIM data. The results s howed that all of the multidimensional AIM models were superior to Larsen's original 40-item uni-dimensional model, on all the fit indices. The best-f itting model was a newly derived three-factor model, based on 27 items resu lting in the factors Positive Affectivity, Negative Intensity, and Negative reactivity. Validation of this model in a community sample of 208 adults c learly showed different correlational patterns between negative intensity a nd negative reactivity, on the one hand, and positive affectivity, on the o ther, which demonstrates the value of treating affect intensity as a multid imensional construct. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.