Evaluating the Dimensional Structure of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short form

This study explores the dimensional structure of the Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment-Short Form (HOME-SF). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate three hypothesized factor structures. Data pertain to 1,250 children up to 2 years old, assessed by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). All models were found to be unsatisfactory. The global fit indexes were low, solutions were inadmissible, and many of the estimated factor loadings were small. This study indicates that the features of the home environment cannot be thought of as composing a single dimension, nor can they be thought of as composing dimensions corresponding to the NLSY scales or the original HOME scales. Hence further research is warranted to determine more precisely the character of what the HOME-SF measures.