University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2012 Jul;58(4):386-92. doi: 10.1177/0020764011400999. Epub 2011 May 31.
Although much is known about the higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders among adolescent females, less is known about the differential item endorsement due to gender in items of scales commonly used to measure anxiety and depression.
We conducted a study to examine if adolescent males and females from Chile differed on how they endorsed the items of the Youth Self Report (YSR) anxious/depressed problem scale. We used data from a cross-sectional sample consisting of 925 participants (mean age = 14, SD 1.3, 49% females) of low to lower-middle socioeconomic status.
A two-parameter logistic (2PL) IRT DIF model was fit.
s revealed differential item functioning (DIF) by gender for six of the 13 items, with adolescent females being more likely to endorse a depression item while males were found more likely to endorse anxiety items.
Findings suggest that items found in commonly used measures of anxiety and depression symptoms may not equally capture the true levels of these behavioural problems in adolescent males and females. Given the high levels of mental disorders in Chile and the surrounding countries, further attention should be focused on increasing the number of empirical studies examining potential gender differences in the assessment of mental health problems among Latin American populations to better aid our understanding of the phenomenology and determinants of these problems in the region.
尽管人们对青春期女性焦虑和抑郁障碍的高发率有了较多的了解，但对于在用于测量焦虑和抑郁的常用量表中，因性别而导致的项目不同的情况却知之甚少。
我们进行了一项研究，以检验来自智利的青少年男性和女性在如何认可青少年自评量表（YSR）焦虑/抑郁问题量表项目方面是否存在差异。我们使用了来自一个由 925 名参与者（平均年龄为 14 岁，标准差为 1.3，49%为女性）组成的横截面样本的数据，这些参与者的社会经济地位较低到中下。
拟合了双参数逻辑（2PL）IRT DIF 模型。
结果显示，在 13 个项目中有 6 个存在性别差异的项目功能障碍（DIF），青春期女性更有可能认可一个抑郁项目，而男性更有可能认可焦虑项目。
研究结果表明，在常用于测量焦虑和抑郁症状的量表中发现的项目可能不能平等地捕捉到青少年男性和女性这些行为问题的真实水平。鉴于智利和周边国家的精神障碍水平较高，应进一步关注增加检查拉丁美洲人群心理健康问题评估中潜在性别差异的实证研究数量，以更好地帮助我们了解该地区这些问题的表现和决定因素。
