Dynamic Factor Analysis: An Application to Emotional Response Patterns Underlying Daughter/Father and Stepdaughter/Stepfather Relationships

A dynamic factor analysis model (Molenaar, 1985) was applied to the emotional response patterns of seven daughter/father pairs and seven stepdaughter/stepfather pairs across 80 measurement occasions. When conceived of as a simultaneous equation system, the dynamic factor model may be evaluated easily within a structural equation modeling program such as LISREL VII. Application of the dynamic factor model to the emotional response data revealed differences in the latent factor series of daughters and stepdaughters, primarily within the first lagged covariance structure. For daughters, involvement across time is associated with increased affection, but for stepdaughters, involvement across time is more associated with anger and anxiety.