Volume 28, Issue 5
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2019.1118
NEW EVIDENCE OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF PANAS IN STUDENT POPULATION ARGENTINA
Abstract
The Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was developed to evaluate affective structure. Although some studies have explored its psychometric properties in South America, the evidence is scarce. Our aim was to provide further evidence of the psychometric performance of an Argentinean adaptation of the PANAS. We present results about its internal consistency, temporal stability, factor structure, concurrent validity and item statistics. Two studies were conducted. In the first, data was collected in two moments, in the first wave the scale was administered to 205 university students in an Argentine city. Through exploratory factor analysis, two dimensions were found: positive affectivity - PA - (α=.83) and negative affectivity - NA - (α=.81), along with a high temporal stability (PA r=.71 and NA r=.60). In the second wave, the retest is done after 15 days. In the second study, the scale was administered to 414 university students from the same institution. Through confirmatory factor analysis its bidimensionality was confirmed. Evidences of concurrent validity were also stablished. As expected from the model, we found a strong relation between NA and depression and NA and anxiety; a moderate indirect relation between PA and depression, and a weaker one with anxiety. There were no notable gender differences in the factor structure of PANAS. Our results widen the available evidence of the PANAS’s psychometric performance and suggest that it could be used in the Argentinean context.
Keywords
Affectivity, PANAS, psychometric properties, reliability, validity, Argentina.