Reliability of Scores on the Manifestation of Symptomatology Scale

Abstract

The Manifestation of Symptomatology Scale (MOSS) is a norm-referenced, self-report instrument designed to assess characteristics of psychopathology among children and adolescents from 11 to 18 years of age. Although the MOSS has been used in several research studies within juvenile justice or disciplinary education contexts, the psychometric properties have not been examined beyond preliminary information provided in the test manual. The current research uses the scores of 172 adolescents attending a juvenile justice alternative education program to assess internal consistency of scores. Alpha coefficients were generally consistent with those reported in the MOSS manual although several differences reached statistical significance, and significant gender and ethnicity differences in alpha coefficients were observed for the Sexual Abuse scale. Low item–total correlations also were observed for many scales. Implications related to internal consistency and use of the MOSS with different groups are discussed.

Keywords

emotional/behavioral disorders school-based assessment measurement theory

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