Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 in women: a MACS approach to testing for invariance across racial/ethnic groups.

This study used data from 3 sites to examine the invariance and psychometric characteristics of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 across Black, Hispanic, and White mothers of 5th graders (N = 4,711; M = 38.07 years of age, SD = 7.16). Internal consistencies were satisfactory for all subscale scores of the instrument regardless of ethnic group membership. Mean and covariance structures analysis indicated that the hypothesized 3-factor structure of the instrument was not robust across ethnic groups. It provided a reasonable approximation to the data for Black and White women but not for Hispanic women. Tests for differential item functioning (DIF) were therefore conducted for only Black and White women. Analyses revealed no more than trivial instances of nonuniform DIF but more substantial evidence of uniform DIF for 3 of the 18 items. After having established partial strong factorial invariance of the instrument, latent factor means were found to be significantly higher for Black than for White women on all 3 subscales (somatization, depression, anxiety). In conclusion, the instrument may be used for mean comparisons between Black and White women.

[1]  B. Muthén,et al.  Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling , 2009 .

[2]  Ulrich Trautwein,et al.  Please Scroll down for Article Structural Equation Modeling: a Multidisciplinary Journal Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling, Integrating Cfa and Efa: Application to Students' Evaluations of University Teaching , 2022 .

[3]  M. Elliott,et al.  Adjusting for subgroup differences in extreme response tendency in ratings of health care: impact on disparity estimates. , 2009, Health services research.

[4]  Chyvette T. Williams,et al.  A methodological note on modeling the effects of race: the case of psychological distress , 2008 .

[5]  Robert Weech-Maldonado,et al.  Survey Response Style and Differential Use of CAHPS Rating Scales by Hispanics , 2008, Medical care.

[6]  Phil Wood.  Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research , 2008 .

[7]  Adam W. Meade,et al.  Power and Precision in Confirmatory Factor Analytic Tests of Measurement Invariance , 2007 .

[8]  Roger E. Millsap,et al.  Detecting Violations of Factorial Invariance Using Data-Based Specification Searches: A Monte Carlo Study , 2007 .

[9]  B. Byrne,et al.  TEACHER'S CORNER: The MACS Approach to Testing for Multigroup Invariance of a Second-Order Structure: A Walk Through the Process , 2006 .

[10]  S. Galea,et al.  The Epidemiology of Nonspecific Psychological Distress in New York City, 2002 and 2003 , 2006, Journal of Urban Health.

[11]  James B. Schreiber,et al.  A cross-cultural analysis of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18. , 2006, Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology.

[12]  C. Recklitis,et al.  Factor structure of the brief symptom inventory--18 in adult survivors of childhood cancer: results from the childhood cancer survivor study. , 2006, Psychological assessment.

[13]  J. Bratter,et al.  Race/ethnic differences in nonspecific psychological distress : Evidence from the national health interview survey , 2005 .

[14]  Tihomir Asparouhov,et al.  Sampling Weights in Latent Variable Modeling , 2005 .

[15]  S. Weaver,et al.  A preliminary investigation of the validity and reliability of the Brief‐Symptom Inventory‐18 in economically disadvantaged Latina American mothers , 2005 .

[16]  Adam W. Meade,et al.  A Comparison of Item Response Theory and Confirmatory Factor Analytic Methodologies for Establishing Measurement Equivalence/Invariance , 2004 .

[17]  Michael Windle,et al.  Healthy passages. A multilevel, multimethod longitudinal study of adolescent health. , 2004, American journal of preventive medicine.

[18]  H. Marsh,et al.  In Search of Golden Rules: Comment on Hypothesis-Testing Approaches to Setting Cutoff Values for Fit Indexes and Dangers in Overgeneralizing Hu and Bentler's (1999) Findings , 2004 .

[19]  Barbara M Byrne,et al.  Measurement equivalence: a comparison of methods based on confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[20]  Gordon W. Cheung,et al.  Evaluating Goodness-of-Fit Indexes for Testing Measurement Invariance , 2002 .

[21]  G. Hancock.  Effect size, power, and sample size determination for structured means modeling and mimic approaches to between-groups hypothesis testing of means on a single latent construct , 2001 .

[22]  K. Brintzenhofeszoc,et al.  A new psychosocial screening instrument for use with cancer patients. , 2001, Psychosomatics.

[23]  J. Jackson,et al.  Unfair treatment, neighborhood effects, and mental health in the Detroit metropolitan area. , 2000, Journal of health and social behavior.

[24]  J. Hovey,et al.  Acculturative Stress, Anxiety, and Depression among Mexican Immigrant Farmworkers in the Midwest United States , 2000, Journal of Immigrant Health.

[25]  D. Chan,et al.  Detection of Differential Item Functioning on the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory Using Multiple-Group Mean and Covariance Structure Analyses , 2000, Multivariate behavioral research.

[26]  Albert Satorra,et al.  A scaled difference chi-square test statistic for moment structure analysis , 1999 .

[27]  Albert Satorra,et al.  Scaled and Adjusted Restricted Tests in Multi Sample Analysis of Moment Structures , 1999 .

[28]  P. J. Ferrando.  Calibration of Invariant Item Parameters in a Continuous Item Response Model Using the Extended Lisrel Measurement Submodel. , 1996, Multivariate behavioral research.

[29]  W. Meredith.  Measurement invariance, factor analysis and factorial invariance , 1993 .

[30]  J. S. Long,et al.  Testing Structural Equation Models , 1993 .

[31]  G. Marín,et al.  Extreme Response Style and Acquiescence among Hispanics , 1992 .

[32]  M. Browne,et al.  Alternative Ways of Assessing Model Fit , 1992 .

[33]  V. Mcloyd,et al.  The impact of economic hardship on black families and children: psychological distress, parenting, and socioemotional development. , 1990, Child development.

[34]  J. H. Steiger.  Structural Model Evaluation and Modification: An Interval Estimation Approach. , 1990, Multivariate behavioral research.

[35]  P. Bentler,et al.  Comparative fit indexes in structural models. , 1990, Psychological bulletin.

[36]  P. Lachenbruch.  Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.) , 1989 .

[37]  Harry C. Triandis,et al.  Effects of Culture and Response Format on Extreme Response Style , 1989 .

[38]  B. Byrne,et al.  Testing for the equivalence of factor covariance and mean structures: The issue of partial measurement invariance. , 1989 .

[39]  R. Zimmerman,et al.  Race, socioeconomic status, and psychological distress: an examination of differential vulnerability. , 1989, Journal of health and social behavior.

[40]  R. P. McDonald,et al.  Goodness-of-fit indexes in confirmatory factor analysis : The effect of sample size , 1988 .

[41]  P. Bentler,et al.  Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures , 1980 .

[42]  D. Sörbom.  A GENERAL METHOD FOR STUDYING DIFFERENCES IN FACTOR MEANS AND FACTOR STRUCTURE BETWEEN GROUPS , 1974 .

[43]  James Lani,et al.  Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) , 2010 .

[44]  Gregory R. Hancock,et al.  Structural equation modeling : a second course , 2006 .

[45]  L. Derogatis,et al.  The SCL-90-R, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the BSI-18. , 2004 .

[46]  M. Maruish.  Instruments for adults , 2004 .

[47]  D. Cooke,et al.  Psychopathy and ethnicity: structural, item, and test generalizability of the Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R) in Caucasian and African American Participants. , 2001, Psychological assessment.

[48]  Albert Satorra,et al.  Innovations in multivariate statistical analysis : a festschrift for Heinz Neudecker , 2000 .

[49]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[50]  T. Little.  Mean and Covariance Structures (MACS) Analyses of Cross-Cultural Data: Practical and Theoretical Issues. , 1997, Multivariate behavioral research.

[51]  S. Reise,et al.  Exploring the measurement invariance of psychological instruments: Applications in the substance use domain. , 1997 .

[52]  D. Kaplan,et al.  A study of the power associated with testing factor mean differences under violations of factorial invariance , 1995 .

[53]  L. Derogatis,et al.  Brief Symptom Inventory Bsi Administration Scoring And Procedures Manual >>>CLICK HERE<<< , 1993 .

[54]  R. Angel,et al.  The factor structure of the CES-D in the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: the influences of ethnicity, gender and language. , 1989, Social science & medicine.

[55]  Peter M. Bentler,et al.  EQS : structural equations program manual , 1989 .