Structural Validity of the WISC-IV for Students With ADHD

Area of Science:

• Psychometrics
• Educational Psychology
• Child Development

Background:

• The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) is a widely used tool for assessing child intelligence.
• Evaluating the structural validity of assessment tools is crucial for accurate interpretation of results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the structural validity of the WISC-IV.
• To assess the fit of various competing factor models for the WISC-IV.

Main Methods:

• Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data from 233 students diagnosed with ADHD.
• Six competing models were evaluated, including one-factor, two-factor, three-factor, four-factor, higher-order, and bifactor models.

Main Results:

• A higher-order four-factor model demonstrated the best fit to the data.
• This model included a general intelligence factor and four domain-specific factors aligning with the WISC-IV manual.
• The general intelligence factor accounted for over twice the variance of the four domain-specific factors combined.

Conclusions:

• The findings support previous research on the WISC-IV's structure.
• The general intelligence factor provides the most reliable information for WISC-IV interpretation.
• Interpretation of WISC-IV results should prioritize the Full-Scale IQ score.