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Is there a “Conformity to Feminine Norms” Construct? A Bifactor Analysis of two Short Versions of Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory

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Abstract

This study extends the previous research on the structure of the Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory (CFNI-84) by applying the bifactor model. The CFNI was administered to a large sample of Spanish women. The Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) study in Spain supported the results obtained in the USA. A brief measure of the instrument (the CFNI-45r) is developed by eliminating the items which have a content overlap or non-salient factorial loading. With this brief version a competition took place among theoretically plausible models (the one-dimensional model, the one for independent factors, the one for correlated factors, the second-order one and the bifactor), and it was seen that the best fit was obtained from the bifactor model, that is, the existence of a general factor where the construct measured is developed. There is a discussion on the theoretical implications of this bifactor model which would support the original structure of the instrument with facets of the conformity to feminine norms which contribute to a general factor.

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Correspondence to Marta Evelia Aparicio-García.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Author Marta Evelia Aparicio-García declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Jesús María Alvarado-Izquierdo declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Aparicio-García, M.E., Alvarado-Izquierdo, J.M. Is there a “Conformity to Feminine Norms” Construct? A Bifactor Analysis of two Short Versions of Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory. Curr Psychol 38, 1110–1120 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9815-9

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