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Item analysis and differential item functioning of a brief conduct problem screen
Johnny Wu1, Kevin M King, Katie Witkiewitz
1Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1525, USA. johnnywu@u.washington.edu
Psychological Assessment
|November 2, 2011
Summary
Boys exhibit more overt conduct problems than girls, while girls show more nonphysical behaviors. Item response theory (IRT) analysis revealed gender differences in how conduct problems are measured, impacting scale equivalence.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Psychometrics
- Educational Measurement
Background:
- Boys typically show higher conduct problems than girls.
- Existing research lacks scalar equivalence testing across gender and race for conduct problems.
- Understanding measurement invariance is crucial for accurate cross-group comparisons.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine conduct problem item characteristics using item response theory (IRT).
- To assess differential item functioning (DIF) across gender and race/urban status.
- To test for scalar equivalence of the Authority Acceptance scale (AA-TOCA-R).
Main Methods:
- Utilized a 2-parameter item response theory (IRT) model.
- Analyzed data from 8,820 kindergarten children.
- Estimated differential item functioning (DIF) by gender and race/urban status.
Main Results:
- Detected significant DIF by gender; males showed more overt behaviors, females more nonphysical.
- Overt behaviors better discriminated conduct problems in males; nonphysical behaviors in females.
- No conceptually meaningful differences were found across race/urban status.
Conclusions:
- IRT and DIF are valuable for assessing measurement invariance in conduct problem scales.
- The Authority Acceptance scale (AA-TOCA-R) demonstrates gender-based measurement bias.
- Findings suggest potential refinement of the AA-TOCA-R item scaling to 5 categories.
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