Department of Psychology.
Department of Clinical Psychology.
Psychol Assess. 2014 Mar;26(1):332-7. doi: 10.1037/a0035092. Epub 2013 Nov 18.
This study evaluated the cross-ethnic measurement invariance of 2 common screening measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms in youth. The measurement invariance of the Screen for Childhood Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was tested across 881 African American (Black; n = 396), Hispanic (n = 185), non-Hispanic White (White; n = 166), and Asian/Indian (n = 134) youth in the 7th grade. The measures were administered as part of a grade-wide screening to identify youth with elevated anxiety and depressive symptoms. The 5-factor model of the SCARED and the 4-factor model of the CES-D best represented the data for all ethnic groups. Results provided support for strong invariance of the SCARED across all 4 ethnic groups. Results provided support for strong invariance of the CES-D across Black, White, and Asian/Indian youth, and partial strong invariance for Hispanic youth. Overall, results suggest that factor means and total scores can be compared across groups. Factor mean differences across groups were identified for both measures. In particular, Hispanic youth reported greater levels of anxiety and depression in certain domains than White, Black, and Asian youth. Our findings support the use of the SCARED and CES-D as tools for measuring anxiety and depressive symptoms in ethnically diverse youth in the United States. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of establishing measurement invariance for screening measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms prior to comparing symptom levels across ethnic groups.
本研究评估了两种常见的青少年焦虑和抑郁症状筛查工具在跨种族人群中的测量不变性。通过对 881 名 7 年级非裔美国（黑人；n=396）、西班牙裔（n=185）、非西班牙裔白人和亚裔/印第安裔（n=134）青少年进行全年级范围内的筛查，测试了 Screen for Childhood Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders（SCARED）和 Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale（CES-D）的测量不变性。这些措施是作为识别有焦虑和抑郁症状升高的青少年的全年级筛查的一部分进行的。SCARED 的 5 因素模型和 CES-D 的 4 因素模型最能代表所有种族群体的数据。结果为 SCARED 在所有 4 个种族群体中的强不变性提供了支持。结果为 CES-D 在黑种人、白种人和亚裔/印第安人中的强不变性以及西班牙裔青少年的部分强不变性提供了支持。总的来说，结果表明因子均值和总分数可以在群体之间进行比较。两个测量工具在组间都发现了因子均值差异。特别是，西班牙裔青少年在某些领域报告的焦虑和抑郁水平高于白种人、黑种人和亚裔青少年。我们的研究结果支持在美国不同种族的青少年中使用 SCARED 和 CES-D 作为测量焦虑和抑郁症状的工具。结果与在比较不同种族群体的症状水平之前建立焦虑和抑郁症状筛查工具的测量不变性的重要性有关。
