The vicissitudes of measurement: A confirmatory factor analysis of the Emotional Autonomy Scale

This study examined the factor structure of the Emotional Autonomy Scale (E AS) as proposed by Steinberg and Silverberg. Participants were from three i ndependent samples of adolescents in grades 6 (n = 1,842), 8 (n = 1,769), a nd 10 (n = 1,232), with each sample consisting of three ethnic groups: Afri can American, European American, and Mexican American. None of the confirma tory factor analyses for these samples supported the factor structure propo sed by Steinberg and Silverberg. From the three models tested, the EAS is b est described by the four originally proposed factors, combined with two me thod factors, one consisting of the positively worded scale items and one c onsisting of the negatively worded scale items. Results show that the EAS e xhibits poor construct validity and behaves quite differently for the diffe rent grade and ethnic groups. The strong impact of method variance on the f actor structure is discussed. Although various alternative solutions to the psychometric problems in the EAS are proposed, the most credible solution may be to reexamine the conceptual foundations of emotional autonomy and de velop better measures of those concepts for adolescents.