Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS—R): Simultaneous group confirmatory factor analysis for adolescent gender groups.

Confirmatory factor analyses supported the plausibility of a 10-factor model of the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS-R; Windle & Lerner, 1986) with a sample of 975 teenagers. Simultaneous group models across gender indicated an invariant pattern for factor loadings and factor intercorrelations. Internal consistency estimates and test-retest stability were moderately high for the 10 temperament attributes, and consensual validity was indicated by convergent/discriminant correlations between adolescent and primary caregiver agreement indexes. A secondorder factor analysis revealed 3 factors: Adaptability/Positive Affect, Attentional Focus, and General Rhythmicity. In terms of levels of temperament, girls reported more adaptability/positive affect, whereas boys reported more attentional focus and general rhythmicity. The principal purpose of this study was to investigate the dimensional structure and psychometric characteristics (e.g., internal consistency, test-retest stability) of the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS-R; Windle & Lerner, 1986) with samples of midadolescent boys and girls (mean age = 15.5 years). Adolescence is often described as a phase in the life span involving confrontation with numerous challenges, psychosocial tasks, and novel events (e.g., Erikson, 1963; Havighurst, 1948/1972). The results of a study by Newcomb, Huba, and Bentler (1981) indicated that middle adolescence was a peak period for the occurrence of stressful life events (also see Compas, 1987). Because high levels of stressful life events and novel demands characterize adolescence, it is important to identify individual difference attributes (e.g., temperament, coping styles) that may potentiate salubrious outcomes and attenuate or ameliorate nonsalubrious outcomes. Research reviewed by Garmezy and Rutter (1983) has suggested that temperament is one of three major variables associated with healthy, adaptive functioning among children growing up under adverse circumstances (e.g., low socioeconomic status, parental alcoholism). Furthermore, the other two significant predictors of healthy, adaptive functioning were family support and external (community) support, both of which have been posed as influenced by temperament (e.g., Rutter, 1983; Werner, 1986). The temperament measure used in this study, the DOTS-R (Windle & Lerner, 1986), and its predecessor, the DOTS (Lerner, Palermo, Spiro, & Nesselroade, 1982), were developed for assessing age-continuous features of temperament identified by Thomas and Chess (1977; Chess & Thomas, 1984) in their ongoing and highly influential New York Longitudinal