Uniform Differential Item Functioning Across Gender, Grade Level and Racial Groups: A MIMIC Investigation of the Non-clinical Parent Ratings of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17

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The Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 (PSC-17) is a screening instrument designed to measure children’s behavioral and emotional problems. This study investigated the factor structure of the PSC-17 and the uniform differential item functioning (DIF) of the PSC-17 item scores as a function of school children’s gender, grade level, and racial/ethnic groups. Parent ratings of 1,305 children from pre-K to Grade 1 were used. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the scale’s factor structure indicated that parent ratings of PSC-17 were composed of three subscales: Externalizing Problems, Internalizing Problems, and Attention Problems. A multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) analysis results showed that four of the PSC-17 items exhibited statistically uniform DIF as a function of race/ethnicity but not as a function of gender or grade level. Uniform DIF had little impact on latent mean differences of Internalizing, Attention, and Externalizing Problems among gender, race/ethnicity, and grade-level groups. This study’s results implied that teachers or schools should be cautious with comparing racial/ethnic groups at the item level. However, they can compare children’s subscale scores across gender, race/ethnicity, and grade levels with parent ratings of the PSC-17.