The factor structure of Michael D. Berzonsky’s Identity Style Inventory. How many styles are measured by ISI3?

The Identity Style Inventory ISI3 developed by Michael D. Berzonsky is currently one of the most widely used measurement instruments in personality research – both in English language and Polish literature. The following paper is the Polish publication presenting the results of the study on the factor structure of identity styles as conceptualized by Berzonsky and operationalized in the ISI3 questionnaire.
The study involved a total of 1995 people belonging to three developmental stages: early adolescence, late adolescence, and early adulthood. By means of confi rmatory factor analysis with parcelling, which has been used in English-language literature, the 3-factor structure of the inventory was confi rmed (similarly as in other countries). However, this paper questions the above method of analysis and proposes that it is necessary to check if the studied constructs are one-dimensional. Verifi cation conducted with the help of exploratory factor analysis and the comparison of alternative models with confi rmatory factor analysis seem to contradict the 3-factor structure. The collected empirical material appears to indicate that the diffuse-avoidant style (measured with the Polish version of the ISI3) in fact consists of two independent dimensions: the avoidant style and the diffuse-careless style.

The factor structure of Michael D. Berzonsky’s Identity Style Inventory. How many styles are measured by ISI3?

The Identity Style Inventory ISI3 developed by Michael D. Berzonsky is currently one of the most widely used measurement instruments in personality research – both in English language and Polish literature. The following paper is the Polish publication presenting the results of the study on the factor structure of identity styles as conceptualized by Berzonsky and operationalized in the ISI3 questionnaire.
The study involved a total of 1995 people belonging to three developmental stages: early adolescence, late adolescence, and early adulthood. By means of confi rmatory factor analysis with parcelling, which has been used in English-language literature, the 3-factor structure of the inventory was confi rmed (similarly as in other countries). However, this paper questions the above method of analysis and proposes that it is necessary to check if the studied constructs are one-dimensional. Verifi cation conducted with the help of exploratory factor analysis and the comparison of alternative models with confi rmatory factor analysis seem to contradict the 3-factor structure. The collected empirical material appears to indicate that the diffuse-avoidant style (measured with the Polish version of the ISI3) in fact consists of two independent dimensions: the avoidant style and the diffuse-careless style.