Time Stability of Acquiescence as Estimated by Manifest and Latent Approaches

Abstract

Acquiescence as the tendency to systematically agree with items without regard for the content is usually measured by manifest approach based on a deviation from the mean of the response scale and by latent approach using confirmatory factor analysis. The goal of this study was to investigate whether acquiescence as measured by both approaches is stable over time. The study explored the relationship of acquiescence with variables usually considered as validating criteria for acquiescence. The research was done with a sample of 443 participants using the BFI-2 as a tool to identify acquiescence. Data was collected twice with an interval of almost two years. The results showed that both approaches showed relative stability over time, with correlation coefficients from .35 to .48 for the manifest and from .42 to .69 for the latent approach. The time stability of acquiescence suggests that acquiescence is more a participant-related than a situation-related construct. However, our results did not support the assumption of the relationship between acquiescence and education, and age which are sometimes recommended as validity criteria for acquiescence. For future research, our recommendations are using CFA for identifying acquiescence and sums of agreements from another time point as validity criterion whenever possible.