评估早晚偏好(时间型),反映在日常心理和生理波动中的个体特征,考虑到它们在各个领域的总体影响,这是至关重要的。当前的工作旨在研究最近提出的用于评估此特性的仪器的最佳因子结构:改进的Morningness-eveningness-Stability-Scale(MESSi)。第一次,最初提出的三因素结构与单因素和双因素解决方案背道而驰。另一个新事物是确定最佳拟合模型相对于性别和年龄是不变的,影响时间类型的两个变量。对从2096名德国成年人(年龄:18-76岁;M=25.5,SD=7.64)的样本中获得的数据进行验证性因素分析显示,最初提出的MESSi-早晨影响的三因素结构,均匀性,和鲜明-是唯一一个达到可接受的适合指标。此外,各量表获得了良好的内部一致性。为了评估年龄不变性,在关于发育和时间类型的文献之后,我们的样本分为三个年龄组:18-21岁,22-31岁,32岁或以上。对于性别和年龄,发现了三因素模型的完全测量不变性。关于性别差异,在早晨情感中,女性与男性没有显着差异,但在均匀性上得分明显较低,在区分性上得分较高;这最后一个结果在MESSi的验证研究中是一致的。关于年龄差异,与其他两个年龄组相比,年龄最大的组的“均匀性”和“鲜明性”得分较低;与年轻和老年年龄组相比,中间组(年龄:22-31岁)的“早晨情感”得分较低。此外,均匀性和清晰度均与年龄负相关。后一种关系在其他验证研究中一直有报道。我们的结果加强了以下观点:MESSi以可靠的方式评估了时间型的三个不同组成部分,并且该工具可用于探索性别和年龄差异。
Assessing morningness-eveningness preferences (chronotype), an individual characteristic that is mirrored in daily mental and physiological fluctuations, is crucial given their overarching influence in a variety of domains. The current work aimed to investigate the best factor structure of an instrument recently presented to asses this characteristic: the Morningness-Eveningness-Stability-Scale improved (MESSi). For the first time, the originally proposed three-factor structure was pitched against a uni- and a two-factor solution. Another novelty was to establish that the best-fitting model would be invariant in relation to sex and age, two variables that influence chronotype. A Confirmatory Factor Analyses on the data obtained from a sample of 2096 German adults (age: 18-76; M = 25.5, SD = 7.64) revealed that the originally proposed three-factor structure of the MESSi - Morning Affect, Eveningness, and
Distinctness - was the only one to achieve acceptable fit indicators. Furthermore, each scale obtained good internal consistency. In order to assess age invariance, following the literature on development and chronotype, our sample was divided into three age groups: 18-21 years, 22-31 years, and 32 years or older. Full measurement invariance of the three-factor model was found for sex and age. Regarding differences between sexes, females did not differ significantly from males in Morning Affect, but scored significantly lower on Eveningness and higher on
Distinctness; this last result has been consistent across validation studies of the MESSi. With respect to age differences, the oldest group scored lower on Eveningness and
Distinctness in comparison with the other two age-groups; the intermediate group (age: 22-31) scored lower on Morning Affect when compared to both the younger and older age groups. Additionally, both Eveningness and
Distinctness were negatively correlated with age. This latter relation has been consistently reported in other validation studies. Our results reinforce the idea that the MESSi assesses three different components of chronotype in a reliable manner and that this instrument can be used to explore sex and age differences.