Work

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Youth Depression Indicators

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: Accurate assessment of dysfunction is central to clinical psychological science, essential for valid conclusions about prevalence, risk, and appropriate intervention. Measures applied without adjustment across diverse racial/ethnic groups may risk errors if measurement equivalence has not been established. We tested this possibility in the domain of youth depression, applying item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning (DIF) analyses to reports by White, Black, Latino, and Asian youths (N = 2,335) on the most widely-used measure of symptoms, the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Analyses revealed that 77% of CDI items were non-equivalent indicators of symptom severity across groups. CDI sum scores exhibited marked over-estimations of group differences and inappropriate classification as "clinically-elevated" for 29% of Latino, 23% of Black, and 10% of Asian youths. Applying DIF adjustment corrected these errors. The study demonstrates a useful strategy for ethnically sensitive assessment, applicable to other symptom domains and ethnic groups.

Source: Clinical Psychological Science

DOI: 10.1177/2167702615591768

Authors: Rachel A. Vaughn-Coaxum, Patrick Mair, John R. Weisz

Institution: Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Psychometric Methodologies and Testing

Subfield: Management Science and Operations Research

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Mental Health