The Psychometrics of the Mini-K.
Many published studies have employed the Mini-K to measure a single fast-slow life history dimension. However, the internal structure of the Mini-K has not been determined and it is not clear that a single higher order K-factor fits the data. It is also not clear that the Mini-K is measurement invariant across groups such as the sexes. To establish the construct validity of K as well as the broader usefulness of applying life history theory to humans, it is crucial that these psychometric issues are addressed as a part of measure validation efforts. Here we report on three studies that used latent variable modeling and data drawn from two college student samples ( ns = 361 and 300) to elucidate the psychometrics of the Mini-K. We found that (a) the Mini-K had a six dimensional first-order structure, (b) the K-factor provided a parsimonious explanation of the associations among the lower order factors at no significant cost to fit, (c) the Mini-K measured the same K-factor across the sexes, (d) K-factor means did not have the same meaning across the sexes and thus the first-order factors should be used in studies of mean sex differences, and finally, (e) the K-factor was only associated with environment and aspects of mating competition in females. Implications and future directions for life history research are discussed.
1 School of Human Services, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
George B
GB
Richardson
2 University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
Ching-Chen
CC
Chen
2 University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
Chia-Liang
CL
Dai
1 School of Human Services, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Michael D
MD
Brubaker
1 School of Human Services, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Joseph L
JL
Nedelec
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000071421:Life History Traits; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
Mini-K; latent variables; life history strategy; life history theory; psychometrics; structural equation modeling