The polarization-resolved electric field autocorrelation function for p-order scattering was derived from the order-of-scattering solution of the exact equations for electromagnetic multiple Rayleigh scattering and was calculated for 2 less than or equal to p less than or equal to 6 for particles undergoing diffusive motion in an idealized sample cell. It was found that the polarization-channel and the scattering-angle dependence of the p-order autocorrelation function approximately decoupled from the delay-time dependence for p greater than or similar to 3. The polarization-channel and the scattering-angle dependence were analytically calculated, and the delay-time dependence was analytically approximated. The resulting analytical model for the polarization-resolved autocorrelation function for beginning multiple Rayleigh scattering was then tested against experimental autocorrelation data. The data were found to be well fitted by the model. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.