Will the Real Theoretical Structure of the WISC-V Please Stand Up? Implications for Clinical Interpretation

Abstract

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children’s (WISC) factorial\theoretical structure has undergone numerous substantive changes since it was first developed, and each of these changes has subsequently been questioned by assessment experts. Given remaining questions about the structure of the latest revision, the WISC-V, the present study used three different exploratory factor analytic techniques to investigate the factor structure of the 10 primary subtests in a large clinical sample (N = 5359). Results revealed that the WISC-V likely contains four factors (e.g., Gc, Gwm, Gs, and either Gv (via exploratory bifactor analysis) or a complexly determined perceptual reasoning factor (via the Schmid-Leiman procedure and oblique/higher-order factor analysis)), not the five factors proposed by the test publisher. Variance apportionment and omega estimates indicate that only secondary interpretive emphasis should be placed upon group factors, but only when there is structural validity support. This study suggests that the WISC-V measures four, not five, factors, although the four-factor configuration may be different than previously reported in the technical literature.