The Arizona Life History Battery (199 Items)
The Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB) is a battery of cognitive and behavioral indicators of life history strategy compiled and adapted from various different original sources. These self-report psychometric indicators measure graded individual differences along various complementary facets of a coherent and coordinated life history strategy, as specified by Differential-K Theory, and converge upon a single multivariate latent construct, the K-Factor. They are scored directionally to indicate a "slow" (high-K) life history strategy on the "fast-slow" (r-K) continuum.
The English-language (Figueredo, 2007) and Spanish-language (Figueredo & Gaxiola, 2007) versions of this battery (click Electronic Version to download) can be cited in APA style by referencing this web site as follows:
The following are the component scales of the ALHB, with full bibliographic APA-style references for the original sources listed further below:
The Mini-K Short Form (Figueredo et al., 2006) may be used separately to substitute for the entire ALHB and reduce research participant response burden. However, when used by itself, it has limited inter-item consistency and test-retest reliability (~.70) due to the reduced number of items as well as the conceptual breadth of the underlying construct. Nevertheless, when used with the full ALHB, the Mini-K typically has the highest convergent validity coefficient (K-Factor loading) because it ties the rest of the common factor together.
All scale scores on the ALHB can be computed as the simple arithmetic means of all component item scores. No items are reverse-coded except for those of the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) questionnaire. To estimate secure (as opposed to anxious or avoidant) adult romantic partner attachment, all items are reverse-scored except for items number 3, 15, 19, 22, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, and 35. The validity of the ECR as a convergent indicator of the K-Factor has been documented elsewhere (Figueredo et al., 2005).
Selected items and scales were extracted, adapted, and translated from the MIDUS Survey (Brim et al., 2000) with prior permission. The reliability and validity of the selected MIDUS Survey scales as convergent indicators of the K-Factor have been documented elsewhere (Figueredo et al., 2004, 2007). The General Altruism scale can be aggregated across the subscales measuring Altruism towards Own Children, Altruism towards Kin, Altruism towards Friends, and Altruism towards Community. For younger samples, theAltruism towards Own Children subscale may be omitted.
The latent factor scores for the entire K-Factor can be estimated by unit-weighting as the arithmetic mean of the standardized (z) scores of the eight scales. With sample sizes under 300-500, it is generally not recommended that differentially-weighted factor scoring be used for estimation due to the likely sample-specificity of the factor scoring coefficients; unit-weighted factor scoring generally provides more generalizable estimates across independent samples. A simple mean of the z-scores will do.
References
Alonso-Arbiol, I, Balluerka, N., & Shaver, P.R. (2007). A Spanish version of the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) adult attachment questionnaire. Personal Relationships, 14, 45-63.
Barrera, M., Jr., Sandler, I.N., & Ramsay, T.B. (1981). Preliminary development of a scale of social support: Studies on college students. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9(4), 435-447.
Brennan, K.A., Clark, C.L., & Shaver, P.R. (1998). Self-report measurement of adult attachment: An integrative overview. In J.A. Simpson & W.S. Rholes, Attachment theory and close relationships (pp. 46-76). New York: Guilford Press.
Brim, O.G., Baltes, P.B., Bumpass, L.L., Cleary, P.D., Featherman, D.L., Hazzard, W.R., Kessler, R.C. Margie, Lachman, E., Markus, H.R., Marmot, M.G., Rossi, A.S., Ryff, C.D., & Shweder, R.A. (2000). National survey of midlife development in the United States(MIDUS), 1995-1996 [Computer file]. ICPSR version. Ann Arbor, MI: DataStat, Inc./Boston, MA: Harvard Medical School, Dept. of Health Care Policy [producers], 1996. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2000.
Figueredo, A.J., Corral-Verdugo, V., Frías-Armenta, M., Bachar, K.J., White, J., McNeill, P.L., Kirsner, B.R., & Castell-Ruíz, I.P. (2001). Blood, solidarity, status, and honor: The sexual balance of power and spousal abuse in Sonora, Mexico. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22, 295-328.
Figueredo, A.J., Vásquez, G., Brumbach, B.H., & Schneider, S.M.R. (2004). The heritability of life history strategy: The K-factor, covitality, and personality. Social Biology, 51, 121-143.
Figueredo, A.J., Vásquez, G., Brumbach, B.H., & Schneider, S.M.R. (2007). The K-factor, covitality, and personality: A psychometric test of life history theory. Human Nature, 18(1), 47-73.
Figueredo, A.J., Vásquez, G., Brumbach, B.H., Schneider, S.M.R., Sefcek, J.A., Tal, I.R., Hill, D., Wenner, C.J., & Jacobs, W.J. (2006). Consilience and life history theory: From genes to brain to reproductive strategy. Developmental Review, 26, 243-275.
Figueredo, A.J., Vásquez, G., Brumbach, B.H., Sefcek, J.A., Kirsner, B.R., & Jacobs, W.J. (2005). The K-Factor: Individual differences in life history strategy. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(8), 1349-1360.