What do negative factor loadings signify?
A factor loading is the standardized regression coefficient for a factor in the multiple regression equation regressing the variable on the factors. Thus if the factor structure is orthogonal, then the loading is just the correlation between a variable and a factor. So for an orthogonal set of factors, a negative loading (for a variable on a factor) indicates that scores on the factor tend to be associated with variable scores of the opposite sign.
