Bifactor CFA - Error Message PreviousNext
Mplus Discussion > Confirmatory Factor Analysis >
Message/Author
 Eu Gene Chin posted on Sunday, October 12, 2014 - 8:12 pm
Dr. Muthen,

I am attempting to run two bifactor CFAs, one for the 12-item and the other for the 21-item version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scales. (DASS). Both CFAs on the same sample (N = 292).

For the DASS-12 bifactor CFA, I get the following error message:

NO CONVERGENCE. NUMBER OF ITERATIONS EXCEEDED.

Upon checking the residual variance, it turns out that indicator/item #12 has a negative residual variance of -3.180 (i.e., Heywood case?).

For the DASS-21 bifactor CFA, I get the following error message:

THE MODEL ESTIMATION TERMINATED NORMALLY. THE STANDARD ERRORS OF THE MODEL PARAMETER ESTIMATES COULD NOT BE COMPUTED. THE MODEL MAY NOT BE IDENTIFIED. CHECK YOUR MODEL.
PROBLEM INVOLVING THE FOLLOWING PARAMETER:
Parameter 85, ANX21

In contrast with the 12-item DASS bifactor model, however, I do not see any negative residual variance on any of the items/indicators.

I’ve also done the following procedures to try to rule out possible reasons for the lack of convergence.

(1) Checked syntax for errors
(2) Made sure both models are not underidentified
(3) Increased number of iterations

Are there any other things I rule out before I have to decide that the model is simply a bad fit for the data?

I would greatly appreciate any help/feedback with this issue

Best wishes,
Eu Gene Chin
 Linda K. Muthen posted on Monday, October 13, 2014 - 9:08 am
You could try a bi-factor EFA to see if your model is tenable for the data. Otherwise, send the output and your license number to support@statmodel.com. Include TECH4 in the output.
 Eu Gene Chin posted on Monday, October 13, 2014 - 1:07 pm
Will send the output for both CFAs and my license number to support@statmodel.com. I also ran bifactor EFAs for both models and will send the results as well. Thank you so much for your help!
Back to top
Add Your Message Here
Post:
Username: Posting Information:
This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here.
Password:
Options: Enable HTML code in message
Automatically activate URLs in message
Action: