Multivariate Approaches
Grand Canyon University: PCN-540
Multivariate Approaches
This study examines the relationship between three variables attachment, perfectionism, and adjustment (Wei, M., Mallinckrodt, B., Russell, D. W., & Abraham, W. T., 2004). This study examined two components of adult attachment anxiety and avoidance; adult attachment anxiety causes fear of rejection and abandonment due to an excessive need for approval from others and adult attachment avoidance causes fear of closeness and dependency due to an excessive need for self-reliance (Wei, M., Mallinckrodt, B., Russell, D. W., & Abraham, W. T., 2004). The study looked at two forms of perfectionism adaptive perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism; adaptive perfectionism is a real desire to reach achievable goals and standards and maladaptive perfectionism is unrealistic expectations to achieve more than what is possible and being overly critical when those standards are not met (Wei, M., Mallinckrodt, B., Russell, D. W., & Abraham, W. T., 2004). The study sought to investigate if there was a correlation between high levels of attachment anxiety and/or avoidance and adaptive or maladaptive perfectionism in the presence of depressive mood.
The article uses a multivariate statistical analysis method known as Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) that analyzes structural relationships to test the reliability and variability of the reported statistics. This modeling technique is developed from a combination of factor analysis and multiple regression analysis (Bowen, & Guo, 2012). This method is effective as it allows researchers to establish various and interrelated dependencies simultaneously while establishing a relationship between theoretical and measured variables. There are several assumptions incorporated into SEM which include sequential data, outliers-free data, normal distribution of data, the linearity of data, limited sample size, actual covariance, and uncorrelated error terms.
This study pulls information from other studies which establish a positive correlation between high levels of attachment avoidance and anxiety with maladaptive perfectionism as well as those that establish a positive link between perfectionism and depression or hopeless moos which allows this study to establish variability. This study does not feature generally accepted criteria for attachment avoidance or anxiety making it difficult to establish criterion variability. The content validity was established through the use of information provided in previous studies and could not be manipulated. The threats to internal validity include the use of correlational data. Internal validity is based on several components which include instrumentation, regression, maturation, testing, history, and selection; these factors can be carefully manipulated to avoid threats to internal validity (BU, 2015). Other models may h...
