Abstract :
I investigated psychometric properties of data gathered with the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory
(STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983, 1993) using structural equation
modeling. Two features were integrated into the modeling: Bistability refers to the duality that
is raised once the wording effect is recognized, and second-order, state–residual/trait decomposition
refers to the basic bidimensionality of the data, which is revealed in a longitudinal perspective.
I tested the approach on 2 samples of French adults (total N = 888) borrowed from
Vautier and Jmel (2003). The models provided acceptable goodness of fit and supported the
empirical need for hypothesizing 2 trait factors and 4 transient sources of true variance. I assessed
the multidimensional composition of the composites using reliability analyses. I discuss
theoretical consequences of the approach.
