Interoception is defined as an iterative process that refers to receiving, accessing,
appraising, and responding to body sensations. Recently, following an extensive process
of development, Mehling and colleagues (Mehling et al., 2012) proposed a new
instrument, the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA),
which captures these different aspects of interoception with 8
... [Show full abstract] subscales. The aim of this
study was to re-examine the dimensionality of the MAIA by applying maximum
likelihood confirmatory factor analysis (ML-CFA), exploratory structural equation
modeling (ESEM), and Bayesian structural equation modeling (BSEM). ML-CFA,
ESEM, and BSEM were examined in a sample of 320 German adults. ML-CFA showed
a poor fit to the data. ESEM yielded a better fit and contained numerous significant
cross-loadings, of which one was substantial (≥.30). The BSEM model with
approximate zero informative priors yielded an excellent fit and confirmed the
substantial cross-loading found in ESEM. The study demonstrates that ESEM and
BSEM are flexible techniques that can be used to improve our understanding of
multidimensional constructs. In addition, BSEM can be seen as less exploratory than
ESEM and also it might also be used to overcome potential limitations of ESEM with
regard to more complex models relative to the sample size.