Cross-Racial Measurement Equivalence of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory Factors Among Low-Income Young African American and Non-Latino White Children

Abstract

This study examined the cross-racial measurement equivalence of the three Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory Intensity Scale factors, found by Stern and Johnson: Oppositional Defiant Behavior, Attention Difficulties, and Conduct Problems. Cross-racial measurement equivalence was examined between 278 low-income African American and 119 non-Latino White children aged 3 to 6 years. Results did not support configural equivalence of the three subscales between groups. Exploratory factor analyses conducted separately for each racial group showed support for a single factor structure in both groups. Convergent validity of the Intensity Scale was found separately for both groups. Findings suggest the three Intensity Scale factors should not be used to screen or compare treatment outcomes of specific externalizing behavior problems among community samples that include low-income non-Latino White and African American preschoolers.

Keywords

child externalizing behavior assessment screening minority preschool-age race/ethnicity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach

A. T.

Becker

Döpfner

Heiervang

Roessner

Steinhausen

Rothenberger

(2008). Multicultural assessment of child and adolescent psychopathology with ASEBA and SDQ instruments: Research findings, applications, and future directions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 251-275.

Achenbach

T. M.

(1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 and 1991 profile. Burlington: University of Vermont.

Achenbach

T. M.

Rescorla

L. A.

(2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms & profiles. Burlington: University of Vermont.

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision). Washington, DC: Author.

Bagner

D. M.

Harwood

M. D.

Eyberg

S. M.

(2006). Psychometric considerations. In Hersen

(Ed), Clinician’s handbook of child behavioral assessment (pp. 63-76). San Diego, CA: Elsevier.

Boggs

S. R.

Eyberg

Reynolds

(1990). Concurrent validity of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 19, 75-78.

Brown

T. A.

(2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Browne

M. W.

Cudeck

(1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In Bollen

K. A.

Long

J. S.

(Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 445-455). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Burns

B. G.

Patterson

D. R.

(2000). Factor structure of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory: A parent rating scale of oppositional defiant behavior toward adults, inattentive behavior, and conduct problem behavior. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 24, 569-577.

10.

Cattell

R. B.

(1966). The scree test for the number of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1, 245-76.

11.

Cheung

G. W.

Rensvold

R. B.

(2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233-255.

12.

Eiraldi

R. B.

Mazzuca

L. B.

Clarke

A. T.

Power

T. J.

(2006). Service utilization among ethnic minority children with ADHD: A model of help-seeking behavior. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Health Services Research, 33, 607-622.

13.

Eisenstadt

T. H.

McElreath

L. H.

Eyberg

S. M.

McNeil

C. B.

(1994). Interparent agreement on the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory. Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 16, 21-27.

14.

Eyberg

S. M.

Pincus

(1999). Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory and Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory: Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

15.

Ezpeleta

Keeler

Erkanli

Costello

E. J.

Angold

(2001). Epidemiology of psychiatric disability in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 901-914.

16.

Fabrigar

L. R.

Wegener

D. T.

MacCallum

R. C.

Strahan

E. J.

(1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4, 272-299.

17.

Flora

D. B.

Curran

P. J.

(2004). An empirical evaluation of alternative methods of estimation for confirmatory factor analysis with ordinal data. Psychological Methods, 9, 466-491.

18.

Floyd

F. J.

Widaman

K. F.

(1995). Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments. Psychological Assessment, 7, 286-299.

19.

Frick

P. J.

Kimonis

E. R.

(2005). Externalizing disorders of childhood and adolescence. In Maddux

J. E.

Winstead

B. A.

(Eds.), Psychopathology: Foundations for a contemporary understanding (pp. 349-376) Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

20.

Funderburk

B. W.

Eyberg

S. M.

Rich

B. A.

Behar

(2003). Further psychometric evaluation of the Eyberg and Behar rating scales for parents and teachers of preschoolers. Early Education and Development, 14, 68-81.

21.

Gross

Fogg

Webster-Stratton

Garvey

Julian

Grady

(2003). Parent training with families of toddlers in day care in low-income urban communities. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 7, 261-278.

22.

Gross

Fogg

Young

Ridge

Cowell

Sivan

Richardson

(2007). Reliability and validity of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory with African American and Latino parents of young children. Research in Nursing and Health, 30, 213-233.

23.

Gross

Young

Fogg

Ridge

Cowell

Richardson

Sivan

(2006). The equivalence of the child behavior checklist/1½-5 across parent race/ethnicity, income level, and language. Psychological Assessment, 18, 313-323.

24.

Gunter

T. D.

Arndt

Riggins-Caspers

Wenman

Cadoret

R. J.

(2006). Adult outcomes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder. Are the risks independent or additive? Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, 18, 233-237.

25.

Haynes

S. N.

Nelson

Blaine

D. D.

(1999). Psychometric issues in assessment research. In Kendall

P. C.

Butcher

J. N.

Holmbeck

G. N.

(Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (2nd ed., pp. 125-154). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

26.

Hillemeir

M. M.

Foster

Heinrichs

Heier

(2007). Racial differences in parental reports of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder behaviors. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 28, 353-361.

27.

L. T.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6, 1-55.

28.

Jaccard

Wan

C. K.

(1996). LISREL approaches to interaction effects in multiple regression (Quantitative applications in the social sciences No. 07-114). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

29.

Knight

G. P.

Hill

N. E.

(1998). Measurement equivalence in research involving minority adolescents. In McLoyd

V. C.

Steinberg

(Eds.), Studying minority adolescents: Conceptual, methodological, and theoretical issues (pp. 183-210). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

30.

Knight

G. P.

Roosa

M. W.

Umaña-Taylor

A. J.

(2009). Studying ethnic minority and economically disadvantaged populations: Methodological challenges and best practices. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

31.

Konold

T. R.

Hamre

B. K.

Pianta

R. C.

(2003). Measuring problem behaviors in young children. Behavioral Disorders, 28, 111-123.

32.

Loeber

(1982). The stability of antisocial and delinquent child behavior: A review. Child Development, 53, 1431-1446.

33.

Loeber

(1991). Antisocial behavior: More enduring than changeable? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 393-397.

34.

Loeber

Keenan

Zhang

(1997). Boys’ experimentation and persistence in developmental pathways toward serious delinquency. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 6, 321-357.

35.

MacCallum

R. C.

Widaman

K. F.

Zhang

Hong

(1999). Sample size in factor analysis. Psychological Methods, 4, 84-99.

36.

Mash

E. J.

Hunsley

(2005). Evidence-based assessment of child and adolescent disorders: Issues and challenges. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 362-379.

37.

McGee

Prior

Williams

Smart

Sanson

(2002). The long-term significance of teacher-rated hyperactivity and reading ability in childhood: Findings from two longitudinal studies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 1004-1016.

38.

McMahon

R. J.

Frick

P. J.

(2009). Conduct and oppositional disorders. In Mash

E. J.

Barkley

R. A.

(Eds), Assessment of childhood disorders (4th ed., pp. 132-183). New York, NY: Guilford.

39.

McMahon

R. J.

Wells

K. C.

Kotler

J. S.

(2006). Conduct problems. In Mash

E. J.

Barkley

R. A.

(Eds). Treatment of childhood disorders (pp. 137-270). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

40.

Mistry

R. S.

Vandewater

E. A.

Huston

A. C.

McLoyd

V. C.

(2002). Economic well-being and children’s social adjustment: The role of family process in an ethnically diverse low-income sample. Child Development, 73, 935-951.

41.

Muthén

L. K.

Muthén

B. O.

(2007). Mplus user’s guide (5th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.

42.

Nixon

R. D.

Sweeny

Erickson

D. B.

Touyz

S. W.

(2003). Parent-child interaction therapy: A comparison of standard and abbreviated treatments for oppositional defiant preschoolers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 251-260.

43.

Okazaki

Sue

(1995). Methodological issues in assessment research with ethnic minorities. Psychological Assessment, 7, 367-375.

44.

Querido

(2004). Early intervention for child conduct problems in head start families. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 64, 4630.

45.

Sivan

Ridge

Gross

Richardson

Cowell

(2008). Analysis of two measures of child behavior problems by African American, Latino, and Non-Latino Caucasian parents of young children: A focus group study. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 23, 20-27.

46.

Stern

Johnson

(2008). Assessing dimensions of disruptive child behavior with the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory. Manuscript submitted for publication.

47.

Thompson

(2005). The course and correlates of mental health care received by young children: Descriptive data from a longitudinal urban high-risk sample. Children and Youth Services Review, 27, 39-50.

48.

Tyson

E. H.

(2004). Ethnic differences using behavior rating scales to assess the mental health of children: A conceptual and psychometric critique. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 34, 167-201.

49.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). United States census 2000. Retrieved from http://factfinder/census/gov/sevlet

50.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2008). Office of head start. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/about/index.html#prog_desc

51.

van de Vijver

F. J. R.

Poortinga

Y. H.

(1997). Towards an integrated analysis of bias in cross-cultural assessment. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 13, 29-37.

52.

van de Vijver

F. J. R.

Tanzer

N. K.

(2004). Bias and equivalence in cross-cultural assessment: An overview. European Review of Applied Psychology, 54, 119-135.

53.

Vandenberg

R. J.

Lance

C. E.

(2000). A review and synthesis of the measurement invariance literature: Suggestions, practices, and recommendations for organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 3, 4-69.

54.

Weckerly

Aarons

G. A.

Leslie

L. K.

Garland

A. F.

Landsverk

Hough

R. L.

(2005). Attention and inattention: The differential effect of caregiver education on endorsement of ADHD symptoms. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 26, 201-208.

55.

Weis

Lovejoy

M. C.

Lundahl

B. W.

(2005). Factor structure and discriminative validity of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory with young children. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 27, 269-278.