Screening for Student Mental Health Risk: Diagnostic Accuracy, Measurement Invariance, and Predictive Validity of the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener-Student Rating Scale (SAEBRS-SRS)

Abstract

Schools have become the largest provider of mental health services to children, thus increasing the need to identify children at risk before problems worsen. The Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavioral Risk Screener-Student Rating Scale (SAEBRS-SRS) student version is a universal screener that assesses pre-symptomology of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Prior research on the SAEBRS-SRS has supported a psychometrically defensible factor structure; however, additional research is necessary to support applied used in schools. In this study, 1102 middle grades students completed the SAEBRS-SRS and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Data were analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the screener via receiver operating characteristic curve analyses. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to identify measurement invariance across gender. Results indicated that (1) the SAEBRS-SRS has adequate diagnostic accuracy statistics, particularly for the SAEBRS Total score, and (2) the SAEBRS-SRS is invariant across gender at the metric and scalar levels of measurement invariance. Implications and recommendations for future research are further discussed.