more stable indicators. Fourth, use of parcels reduces the number of degrees of freedom to be estimated in the model. Because each of the trait scales has numerous items, use of item-level indicators for each trait would prove problematic given our sample size. These advantages have been described [35, 36]. The crucial relevant caution about using parcels is that they could mask multidimensionality in an item set [35, 37]. In the present case, each trait we studied has been shown to be unidimensional in independent, prior factor analyses [22, 25], so that concern is significantly mitigated.
