Confirming the Validity of the School-Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised in a Sample of Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Stian Orm,Cathrine Orm,Mette I Mebostad,Anders Dechsling,Anders Nordahl-Hansen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.849303

Abstract

Children with developmental disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are at high risk of school-refusal behavior (SRB) compared with their peers. One of the most used scales to assess SRB is the school refusal behavior scale – revised (SRAS-R). The SRAS-R has demonstrated good psychometric properties when used with the general population of children, but, recently, its validity has been questioned when used with children with developmental disorders. We tested the psychometric properties of the SRAS-R parental reports in 96 children with ADHD (Mage = 12.4; SD = 1.7, 61.5% boys). Results showed good model fit and internal consistency for the original four-factor structure. Three of the factors were strongly correlated, suggesting that SRB among children with ADHD is caused by several factors.

Highlights

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common developmental disorders, affecting around 5.9% of children and youth (Faraone et al, 2021)
This study enhances our knowledge about the psychometric properties of the school refusal behavior scale – revised (SRAS-R) and school-refusal behaviors (SRB) among children with ADHD in at least three ways: (1) by demonstrating the suitability of the SRAS-R for children with ADHD in terms of both confirming the original factor structure and showing adequate reliability, (2) providing the first data on the psychometric properties of the Norwegian translation of the SRAS-R, suggesting the psychometric properties of the original version can be extended to the Norwegian context, and (3) by comparing the four-factor structure to a simpler and theoretically justified two-factor structure, suggesting that the more complex four-factor structure is, a better representation of SRB in children with ADHD
Comparing our results with previous studies, it seems like the psychometric properties of the SRAS-R, when used with children with ADHD, are more similar to a neurotypical sample (Kearney, 2006) than an autism spectrum disorder sample (Adams et al, 2021)

Summary

Introduction

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common developmental disorders, affecting around 5.9% of children and youth (Faraone et al, 2021). Children with ADHD present with academic and social difficulties at school, have a high school absence, and many display school-refusal behaviors (SRB; Martin, 2014; Fleming et al, 2017; Orm et al, 2020). Currently, it is scarce with research on SRB among children with ADHD (Orm et al, 2020). As well as clinical practice, it is important with valid scales to assess SRB among children with ADHD.

Methods

Results

Conclusion