The diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have evolved over time with current versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, (4th edition), text revision, (DSM-IV-TR) suggesting that two constellations of symptoms may be present alone or in combination. The SCALES instrument for diagnosing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. For both the home and school versions, a two-factor structure comprising items designed to measure inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity showed best fit to the data. A three-factor model splitting the hyperactivity and impulsivity items onto separate factors resulted in similar fit, but with a correlation between these two factors of .94 on both versions of the instrument. The two-factor structure is preferred, lending support for the DSM-IV-TR criteria.
Achenbach, T.M. ( 1978). Research in developmental psychology: Concepts, strategies, methods. New York, NY: Free Press .
2.
Achenbach, T.M., McConaughy, S.H., & Howell, C.T. ( 1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 213-232.
3.
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2000). Diagnosis and evaluation of the child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Clinical Practice Guidelines, 105, 1158-1170.
4.
American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author .
5.
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., Rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
6.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author .
7.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision). Washington, DC: Author.
8.
Barkley, R.A. ( 1998). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In E. J. Mash & R. A. Barkley (Eds.), Treatment of childhood disorders (2nd ed., pp. 55-110). New York: Guilford.
9.
Bentler, P.M. ( 1998, March 10). Kurtosis, residuals, fit indices [SEMNET listserv message No. 011264]. Retrieved from http://bama.ua.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9803&L=semnet&T=0&O=D&P=20612
10.
Bentler, P.M., & Chou, C.P. ( 1987). Practical issues in structural modeling. Sociological Methods and Research, 16, 78-117.
11.
Bentler, P.M., & Yuan, K.H. ( 2000). On adding a mean structure to a covariance structure model. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60, 326-339.
12.
Browne, M.W., & Cudeck, R. ( 1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A. Bollen & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136-161). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
13.
Burns, G.L., Boe, B., Walsh, J.A., Sommers-Flanagan, R., & Teegarden, L.A. (2001). A confirmatory factor analysis on the DSM-IV ADHD and ODD symptoms: What is the best model for the organization of these symptoms? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 339-349.
14.
Cronbach, L.J. ( 1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests . Psychometrika, 16, 279-334.
15.
DeCarlo, L. ( 1997). On the meaning and use of kurtosis. Psychological Methods, 2, 292-307.
16.
Fisher, B.C. ( 1998). Attention deficit disorder misdiagnosis: Approaching ADD from a brain-behavior/neuropsychological perspective for assessment and treatment. New York: CRC Press.
17.
Gadow, K.D., Drabick, D.A.G., Loney, J., Sprafkin, J., Salisbury, H., Azizian, A., & Schwartz, J. ( 2004). Comparison of ADHD symptom subtypes as source-specific syndromes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 1135-1149.
18.
Gomez, R., Harvey, J., Quick, C., Scharer, I., & Harris, G. ( 1999). DSM-IV ADHD: Confirmatory factor models, prevalence, and gender and age differences based on parent and teacher ratings of Australian primary school children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 40, 265-274.
19.
Graham, J.M., Guthrie, A.C., & Thompson, B. ( 2003). Consequences of not interpreting structure coefficients in published CFA research: A reminder. Structural Equation Modeling, 10, 142-153.
20.
Green, S.B., Akey, T.M., Fleming, K.K., Hershberger, S.L., & Marquis, J.G. ( 1997). Effect of the number of scale points on the chi-square fit indices in confirmatory factor analysis. Structural Equation Modeling, 4, 108-120.
21.
Hartman, C.A., Rhee, S.H., Willcutt, E.G., & Pennington, B.F. (2007). Modeling rater disagreement for ADHD: Are parents or teachers biased? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 536-542.
22.
Henson, R.K. ( 1999). Multivariate normality: What is it and how is it assessed? In B. Thompson (Ed.), Advances in social science methodology (Vol. 5, pp. 193-211). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.
23.
Hu, L., & Bentler, P.M. ( 1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3, 424-453. Jöreskog, K., & Sörbom, D. ( 2006). LISREL 8.80 [Computer Software]. Chicago, IL: Scientific Software International.
24.
Kline, R.B. ( 2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.) New York: Guilford.
25.
Manning, S.C., & Miller, D.C. ( 2001). Identifying ADHD subtypes using the Parent and Teacher Rating Scales of the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children. Journal of Attention Disorders, 5, 41-51.
26.
Morgan, A.E., Hynd, G.W., Riccio, C.A., & Hall, J. ( 1996). Validity of DSM-IV ADHD predominantly inattentive and combined types: Relationship to previous DSM diagnoses/ subtype differences . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 325-333.
27.
Muthén, B.O., & Kaplan, D. ( 1985). A comparison of some methodologies for the factor analysis of nonnormal Likert variables. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 38, 171-189.
28.
Ostrander, R., Weinfurt, K.P., Yarnold, P.R., & August, G.J. ( 1998). Diagnosing attention deficit disorders with the Behavioral Assessment System for Children and the Child Behavior Checklist: Test and construct validity analyses using optimal discriminant classification trees . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 660-672.
29.
Polanczyk, G., Silva de Lima, M., Horta, B.L., Biederman, J., & Rohde, L.A. ( 2007). The worldwide prevalence of ADHD: A systematic review and metaregression analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry , 164, 942-948.
30.
Renk, K., & Phares, V. ( 2004). Cross-informant ratings of social competence in children and adolescents. Clinical Psychology Review, 24, 239-254.
31.
Reuterberg, S.-E., & Gustafsson, J.E. (1992). Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability: Testing measurement model assumptions. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52, 795-811.
32.
Rohde, L.A., Barbosa, G., Polanczyk, G., Eizirik, M., Rasmussen, E.R., Neuman, R.J., & Todd, R. ( 2001). Factor and latent class analysis of DSM-IV ADHD symptoms in a school sample of Brazilian adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 711-718.
33.
Ryser, G., & McConnell, K. ( 2002). Scales for diagnosing attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: Examiner’s manual. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
34.
Satorra, A., & Bentler, P.M. ( 1994). Corrections to test statistics and standard errors on covariance structure analysis. In A. von Eye & C. C. Clogg (Eds.), Latent variables analysis (pp. 399-419). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
35.
West, S.G., Finch, J.F., & Curran, P.J. ( 1995). Structural equation models with nonnormal variables: Problems and remedies. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications (pp. 57-75). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
36.
Wolraich, M.L., Lambert, E.W., Baumgaertel, A., Garcia-Tornel, S., Feurer, I.D., Bickman, L., & Doffing, M.A. ( 2003). Teachers’ screening for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Comparing multinational samples on teacher ratings of ADHD. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 445-455.
37.
Yu, C., & Muthén, B. (2002, April). Evaluation of model fit indices for latent variable models with categorical and continuous outcomes. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
