Invariance of parent ratings of the ADHD symptoms in Australian and Malaysian, and north European Australian and Malay Malaysia children: a mean and covariance structures analysis approach

OBJECTIVE: This study used the mean and covariance structures analysis approach to examine the equality or invariance of ratings of the 18 ADHD symptoms.

METHOD: 783 Australian and 928 Malaysian parents provided ratings for an ADHD rating scale. Invariance was tested across these groups (Comparison 1), and North European Australian (n = 623) and Malay Malaysian (n = 571, Comparison 2) groups.

RESULTS: Results indicate support for form and item factor loading invariance; more than half the total number of symptoms showed item intercept invariance, and 14 symptoms showed invariance for error variances. There was invariance for both the factor variances and the covariance, and the latent mean scores for hyperactivity/impulsivity. For inattention latent scores, the Malaysian (Comparison 1) and Malay Malaysian (Comparison 2) groups had higher scores.

CONCLUSION: These results indicate fairly good support for invariance for parent ratings of the ADHD symptoms across the groups compared.