Factor Structure of Teacher Rating Scales for Children

Abstract

The movement toward the use of factor analytic techniques as a means of deriving a classification system for childhood behavior disorders has been accompanied by increased use of behavior rating scales in educational settings. Although a large number of teacher rating scales are currently is use, each presents a widely varying view of children's behavior disorders in terms of the number and labeling of the factors derived. Two types of variables which appear to exert an important influence on a factor analytic study are population variables such as sex, age, severity, and race, and factor structure variables such as source and breadth of the item pool and decision rules concerning the number of factors to be extracted. The present paper describes several of the most widely used teacher rating scales and attempts to integrate the discrepant findings of the studies reviewed by discussing the influence population and factor structure variables have on the results of the factor analysis of behavior rating scales.