Internal structure of the prospective and retrospective memory questionnaire - PRMQ - in a sample of 297,242 participants

Objective: The prospective and retrospective memory questionnaire (PRMQ) is one of the most widely used questionnaires to assess subjective memory through self-reporting of common memory failures. There have been mixed results in the literature regarding its internal structure. The early studies favoured a tripartite structure with one factor representing a general memory and two group factors representing retrospective (RM) and prospective memories (PM) components. Other findings favoured different structures, such as with only a single factor or only two factors (PM and RM). The objective of the present study was to verify the internal structure of the PRMQ in a very large sample and with precise modelling. Methods: We analysed data from 297,242 adult participants, with ages ranging from 18 to 79 years, and used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to examine the internal structure of PRMQ. Results: The results showed that the model that best describes the data was one with a single factor. The tripartite model failed to converge and our results indicate that the PRMQ is a unidimensional instrument. Conclusion: This is relevant especially for researchers interested in using the PRMQ in future studies and professionals using the questionnaire in clinical settings.