Cover: DISC Predictive Scales (DPS)

DISC Predictive Scales (DPS)

Factor Structure and Uniform Differential Item Functioning Across Gender and Three Racial/Ethnic Groups for ADHD, Conduct Disorder, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder Symptoms

Published in: Psychological Assessment, 2015

Posted on RAND.org on April 29, 2015

by Margit Wiesner, Michael Windle, David E. Kanouse, Marc N. Elliott, Mark A. Schuster

The factor structure and potential uniform differential item functioning (DIF) among gender and three racial/ethnic groups of adolescents (African American, Latino, White) were evaluated for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder (CD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptom scores of the DISC Predictive Scales. Primary caregivers reported on DSM–IV ADHD, CD, and ODD symptoms for a probability sample of 4,491 children from three geographical regions who took part in the Healthy Passages study (mean age = 12.60 years, SD = 0.66). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the expected 3-factor structure was tenable for the data. Multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling revealed uniform DIF for three ADHD and 9 ODD item scores, but not for any of the CD item scores. Uniform DIF was observed predominantly as a function of child race/ethnicity, but minimally as a function of child gender. On the positive side, uniform DIF had little impact on latent mean differences of ADHD, CD, and ODD symptomatology among gender and racial/ethnic groups. Implications of the findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

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