Dimensional Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Youth Self-Report Across Gender and Age

Purpose: The aim of the present work was to examine the correlated eight-syndrome model of the Youth Self-Report (YSR) proposed by Ivanova et al [1], using a confirmatory factor analysis for ordinal data. Likewise, we explored the measurement invariance of the YSR across gender and age using multigroup comparisons, and checked whether there were differences in the latent means. Methods: The sample was made up of 4,868 nonclinical adolescents (47.6% males), with a mean age of 14.6 years (SD = 1.6). Results: The correlated eight-syndrome model proposed by Ivanova et al [1] showed a reasonable fit to the data, both for the total sample and by participants' gender and age. Moreover, the factor-equivalence analysis showed that the hypothesized dimensional model was invariant across gender and age. Statistically significant differences were found when comparing latent means between the groups. Conclusions: These results coincide with those found in the literature and are in support of the replicability, generalizability, and consistency of the eight-syndrome model of the YSR, as well as its measurement invariance across gender and age. Future studies should explore the measurement invariance of this model through multigroup comparisons across cultures. (C) 2012 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.