The Factor Structure of Adaptive Behavior

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Abstract
This article reviews the factor analytic research published since 1965 which has examined the dimensionality of the adaptive behavior construct. Similar to prior reviews, the construct of adaptive behavior was found to contain a large general factor interpreted as measuring personal independence. Up to five other secondary adaptive factors were also identified, although they are very inconsistent across research studies. The dimensionality of adaptive behavior was found to vary as a function of a number of methodological and scale variables, but does appear to represent a distinct area of functioning in addition to intelligence and achievement measures. Implications are discussed for practice and construct-related adaptive behavior research.