Discrimination is a formative construct built by accumulated exposures, unlike depression or anxiety.

Evidence

Principal component analysis was selected for the analysis of the discrimination instruments, as opposed to confirmatory factor analysis, because discrimination is a construct representing the accumulation of experiences; it is the result of its indicator variables, as opposed to the latent cause of its indicator variables as would otherwise be appropriate for confirmatory factor analysis (Salkind, 2010). A latent (reflective) variable exerts the causal influence on its indicator items. Examples of latent variables include depression, anxiety, and other psychosocial constructs, all of which exert a causal influence on the presence/degree to which symptoms are observed. An emergent (formative) variable, on the other hand, is one that receives a causal influence from its measured indicators. Discrimination is precisely such a variable because it represents an accumulation of exposures, as measured by the items. — Naheed Ahmed, Measurement of Perceived Interpersonal…, 45

Categorization

• DEFINE: Crisply distinguishes latent/reflective variables from emergent/formative ones, and explains why the distinction dictates the choice of factor analysis.
• DEEPTHINKING: A methodological-epistemological fork: whether a social experience is a latent cause or an accumulated effect changes what the whole measurement model can say it is.