Factor analytic structure and stability of the separation-individuation test of adolescence

The present study was undertaken to examine internal structural properties of the Separation-Individuation Test Adolescence (SITA; Levine, Green, & Millon, 1986). In 1990, 131 late adolescent undergraduate university students received the SITA; 2 years later, 79 of these same subjects were reassessed. Principal components analyses were conducted for the 1990 and 1992 samples, and internal consistency reliabilities (Cronbach's alpha) were calculated for each subscale. The internal structural properties converged moderately to strongly for the following scales: Practicing Mirroring, Engulfment Anxiety, Dependency Denial, Nurturance Seeking, and Teacher Enmeshment. These findings parallel those of Levine (in press). The developmental impact of the late adolescent separation-individuation process may explain in part some different clusterings of scale items over time.