Sons and daughters' perception of parents as a couple: distinguishing characteristics of a measurement model/A percepcao dos filhos sobre a conjugalidade dos pais: caracteristicas distintas de um modelo de medida

Perceptions and memories that youths may have of their parents' marital relationship were addressed by a self-report questionnaire, composed by 26 Likert scale items which were taken to constitute the "Perception of Parents as a Couple" instrument. Answers from 1,612 male and female youths produced a matrix of non-negative correlations. The sample was randomly split into calibrating and validating subsamples of 806 people each. Exploratory factor and principal component analyses present a circular plot of loading s after the first and second extractions. In the latter, pairs of similar magnitude, but of opposing signs, not only convey theoretical meaning, but also entail an order--Guttman's circular law of order. A specification search, through a confirmatory factor analysis, performed under a measurement model presenting three pairs of opposing-signs and cross-loaded variables, generated a downward chi-square value for each indicated parameter respecification. Following that ordered list top-down, ten other items were specified to cross-load in the model. Once tested, running the validating subsample data, satisfactory fit indices were obtained. We propose the Mobius strip as a functional analogue to model this kind of circular ordering. Finally, we nominate two theoretical orientations for further research on the explanation of results--the generational psychic transmission reviewed in the introduction contrasted to the cognitive unconscious theory. Keywords: Parents' marital relationship; Circumplex structure; Mobius strip; Confirmatory factor analysis. Percepcoes e memorias que os jovens tenham das relacoes conjugais de seus pais foram investigadas por um questionario auto-aplicavel, no qual 26 itens tipo Likert constituiram o instrumento sobre a Percepcao dos Pais na Conjugalidade. Respostas de 1.612 jovens adultos produziram uma matriz de correlacoes naonegativas. A amostra foi dividida aleatoriamente em subamostras de calibracao e de validacao, com 806 pessoas cada. Analises exploratorias fatoriais e de componentes principais apresentam um grafico de cargas de forma circular, apos a primeira e a segunda extracao. Nesta ultima, pares de magnitude similar, mas de sinais opostos, nao apenas expressam significado teorico, mas acarretam uma ordem--a lei da ordem circular de Guttman. Uma busca de especificacao, por meio de analise fatorial confirmatoria executada sob um modelo de medida apresentando tres pares de variaveis de carga cruzada e sinais oposto