Abstract

ARIAS MARTINEZ, Benito; ARIAS GONZALEZ, Víctor B; GOMEZ SANCHEZ, Laura Elísabet  and  INMACULADA CALLEJA, María Angélica. Differential Item Functioning in the Assessment of ADHD Symptoms Based on Gender and Rating Format. Univ. Psychol. [online]. 2013, vol.12, n.3, pp.779-796. ISSN 1657-9267.

The aim of this paper was to test the invariance of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in a sample of 634 children attending to gender. We firstly examined the fit to the data of five models using confirmatory factor analysis, and ordinal logistic regression was used as a method of estimation of both uniform and non-uniform differential item functioning (DIF). The results showed that (a) the three correlated factors model was the best fit model, and (b) there was no gender-specific DIF, either in the ordinal rating form (scale of 1 to 4) or the binary rating form (0-1). These results support that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-W-TR does not establish ADHD differential diagnosis criteria for boys and girls.

Keywords : Differential item functioning; DIF; assessment instruments; ADHD; ordinal logistic regression; Psychometry; Quantitative Psychology; Clinical Psychology.

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