Psychometric models of Emerging Adulthood: an evaluation in a Chilean university sample

Boero, Paula; Trizano-Hermosilla, Italo; Vinet, Eugenia V.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1483934

BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Quantitative Psychology and Measurement

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1483934

Psychometric models of Emerging Adulthood: an evaluation in a Chilean university sample

Provisionally accepted

Paula Boero

Italo Trizano-Hermosilla ^*

Eugenia V. Vinet

University of La Frontera, Temuco, Chile

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

This study analyzed three models of the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA): the original by Reifman et al., the version based on Arnett's proposals, and the abbreviated version by Crocetti et al. The sample included 1935 students from four Chilean universities (56% women), with an average age of 21.3 years (SD = 2.04). The 31 items of the instrument were descriptively analyzed, followed by analyses to determine the best-fitting factorial model. Confirmatory Factor Analyses and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling were utilized. Finally, reliability estimates were obtained. The results showed that Crocetti et al.'s model offered the best fit, consistent with theoretical postulations, and acceptable reliability levels, proving to be the best of the evaluated models. This version confirmed five correlated latent dimensions, providing an integrated interpretation of the Emerging Adulthood construct for use in the Chilean population.

Keywords: emerging adulthood, university students, validity, Reliability, ESEM

Received: 20 Aug 2024; Accepted: 01 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Boero, Trizano-Hermosilla and Vinet. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Italo Trizano-Hermosilla, University of La Frontera, Temuco, Chile

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