Psychometric Properties of the Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders

Abstract

The Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders (DSMD) is a relatively new rating scale intended to be used in the assessment of behavioral and emotional problems in children. In this study, several psychometric properties of the DSMD were investigated. The authors of the DSMD developed six separate subscales through factor analytic procedures. This study attempted to replicate these scales. A factor analysis was conducted, and at each age range the scale covers (5-12 and 13-18) five factors as opposed to six factors were retained. Although the factor structure in this study did not replicate the factor structure reported by the scale authors, both the factors obtained in this study and the subscales developed by the authors have adequate internal consistency reliabilities, and children classified as seriously emotionally disturbed scored higher on all factors and subscales than did children not classified as such. These results are discussed within the context of how this scale may best be used in practice.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach, T. M. , McConoughy, 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.

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (6th ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Cronbach, L. J. , & Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281-302.

Floyd, F. J. , & Widaman, K. F. (1995). Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments. Psychological Assessment, 7, 286-299.

Gresham, F. M. (1983). Multitrait-multi-method approach to multifactored assessment: Theoretical rationale and practical application. School Psychology Review, 12, 26-34.

Hutton, J. B. , Dubes, R. , & Muir, S. (1992). Assessment practices of school psychologists: Ten years later. School Psychology Review, 21, 271-284.

Kamphaus, R. , & Frick, P. (1996). Clinical assessment of child and adolescent personality and behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Martin, R. P. , Hooper, S. , & Snow, J. (1986). Behavior rating scale approaches to personality assessment in children and adolescents. In H. M. Knoff (Ed.), The assessment of child and adolescent personality (pp. 309-351). New York: Guilford Press.

McConaughy, S. H. , & Ritter, D. R. (1995). Best practices in multidimensional assessment of emotional or behavioral disorders. In A. Thomas and J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psycholopy-III (pp. 865-877). Washington, DC: National Association of School Psychologists.

10.

Naglieri, J. A. , LeBuffe, P. A. , & Pfeiffer, S. I. (1994). Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.

11.

Pedhazur, E.J. , & Schmelkin, L. P. (1991). Measurement, design, and analysis: An integrated approach. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

12.

Tabachnick, B. G. , & Fidell, L. S. (1996). Using multivariate statistics (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Collins.