ADHD symptoms among adolescents: Measurement invariance across mother and adolescent self-ratings

Abstract

This study employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine measurement invariance (configural, metric, and scalar) across mother and adolescent self-ratings of ADHD symptoms [inattention (IA), hyperactivity (HY), and impulsivity (IM)] as presented in the Disruptive Behavior Rating Scale (DBRS; Barkley & Murphy, 1998). The ADHD model used for this analysis was the ICD-10 3-factor model, with factors for IA, HY and IM. Findings supported configural invariance. Of the 18 ADHD symptoms, 4 symptoms (three of which were IA symptoms) lacked metric invariance. Nine thresholds (1 IA symptom, 6 HY symptoms, and 2 IM symptoms) lacked scalar invariance, with six being for the first thresholds. The psychometric and practical implications of the findings are discussed.