Telephone Interview Timing and Measurement Properties of Well-Being in a Sample of Elderly Hispanics

The influences of interview timing on the measurement properties of Bradburn's (1969) positive and negative affect scales were examined in a nationwide telephone survey of 2299 elderly Hispanics aged 65 and older. Analyses were performed on different sample sizes to avoid possible statistical biases caused by sample size discrepancies. The findings revealed that the factor structures of the positive affect scale were not equivalent between morning and afternoon interviews. Items in the positive affect scale had more favorable measurement properties in morning interviews than in afternoon interviews. Although the negative affect scale had statistically similar measurement properties between morning and afternoon interviews, morning interviews tended to have slightly better measurement properties than afternoon interviews. Implications for social work research are discussed

Affect (linguistics · Morning · Sample (material · Scale (ratio · Telephone interview · Clinical Psychology · Medicine · Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges · Gerontology