Exploratory and Higher-Order Factor Analyses of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) Adolescent Subsample

The factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008a) with the adolescent participants (ages 16–19 years; N = 400) in the standardization sample was assessed using exploratory factor analysis, multiple factor extraction criteria, and higher-order exploratory factor analyses. Results from exploratory factor analyses were not included in the WAIS-IV Technical and Interpretation Manual (Wechsler, 2008b) and are necessary for determining convergence or divergence with the reported confirmatory factor analyses. As found with the total WAIS-IV standardization sample (Canivez & Watkins, in press), the present results with the adolescent subsample found all WAIS-IV subtests (10- and 15-subtest configurations) were properly associated with their four theoretically proposed first-order factors, but only one factor extraction criterion (standard error of scree) recommended extraction of four factors. Hierarchical exploratory analyses with the Schmid and Leiman (1957) procedure found that the second-order g factor accounted for major portions of total and common variance, while the four first-order factors accounted for small portions of total and common variance. It was concluded that the WAIS-IV provides strong measurement of general intelligence in adolescents and clinical interpretation should be primarily at that level.