The use of item parcels in structural equation modeling (SEM) has become quite common in recent years. The practice of parceling involves summing or averaging together two or more items and using the resulting sum or average as the basic unit of analysis in SEM. This practice appears to have originated with the work of Cattell (1956; 1974) and has become increasingly popular in applied research areas such as education, psychology, and marketing. We conducted a review of the use of parceling by examining issues of the following journals from 1989 to the present: Journal of Educational Measurement, Journal of Educational Psychology, Applied Psychological Measurement, American Educational Research Journal, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Structural Equation Modeling, and Journal of Marketing Research. We found that, of 317 applied SEM or CFA studies, 62 (19.6%) employed some type of parceling procedure. More specifically, we found the following percentages within each journal: Journal of Educational Measurement, 60%; Journal of Educational Psychology, 23%; Applied Psychological Measurement, 25%; American Educational Research Journal, 33%; Educational and Psychological Measurement, 18%; Structural Equation Modeling, 13%; and Journal of Marketing Research, 9%.
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