Dimensionality of Oppositional Defiant Disorder Symptoms Across Elementary-School Grades

Various models of the dimensionality of behaviors associated with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) have been proposed or reported. Many of these models describe ODD-related behaviors in either two- or three-factor models. The purpose of the study was to determine which of the models of ODD-related behaviors demonstrated the best fit using teacher report of 15,521 children across eight grade levels and to examine measurement invariance of the model across grades. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine which of the models demonstrated best fit of teacher-reported ODD-related behaviors across eight grades. A two-factor model from a preliminary analysis of a subset of the current data demonstrated a better model fit than any of the existing six models examined and demonstrated measurement invariance across all grades. Across all of the models, affective and behavioral symptoms loaded onto separate factors, which may be an important consideration to inform future clinical and empirical work.