Exploratory factor analysis and validation of the California Psychological Inventory-260 in a police candidate sample

This study examined the California Psychological Inventory-260 (CPI-260) in the police candidate population. The authors of the CPI-260 sought to maximize continuity across CPI instruments and to insure the body of research on the CPI could be applied to the CPI-260. Because the police candidate population differs significantly from the U.S. population, it is important to determine whether these two CPI forms have a high correspondence in this population. The factor structures of the full length CPI-434 and short form CPI-260 were analyzed and compared to assess the continuity of the latent factors measured by the two instruments in this population. The study also investigated the continuity of constructs measured by the established CPI scales of the two instruments in this population in a correlational analysis. These analyses were conducted on a nationwide sample of 4,000 police candidates.;Statistical analyses revealed five factors, the first three of which are closely aligned with the first three factors observed in the literature with other populations (Gough & Bradley, 2002). Statistical analyses of CPI-260 revealed five factors, the first four of which are closely aligned with factors observed in the literature with other populations. A qualitative review of the factors that emerge from the item level factor analysis of CPI-434 and CPI-260 reveal strikingly similar factor structures. The highly similar factor structures of the two instruments provide support for the hypothesis that the factor structures of these two instruments would be the same in the police candidate population. Further investigation of these factor scales is required to confirm their factor structure and to assess their ability to predict negative outcomes in law enforcement. This study provides strong support for the use of the CPI-260 in the police candidate population with a strong need for additional validation research on the construct of Tolerance which is currently being assessed by the CPI Tolerance (To) scale, as well as the investigation of new scales based on the remaining factors uncovered in this study for their possible utility in police candidate assessments.