Testing factorial invariance and latent means differences of the school refusal assessment scale-revised in Ecuadorian a
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Testing factorial invariance and latent means differences of the school refusal assessment scale-revised in Ecuadorian adolescents Carolina Gonzálvez 1 & Cándido J. Inglés 2 & Ricardo Sanmartín 1 Carlos M. Calderón 3 & José M. García-Fernández 1
&
María Vicent 1 &
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract School attendance problems imply a serious threat to a child’s academic, social and emotional development. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) in Ecuadorian adolescents. Participants were 1786 students (51% boys) aged 15 to 18 years (M = 16.31; SD = 1.01) randomly selected from 12 high schools located in different geographic zones of Quito (Ecuador). The measures used were the SRAS-R, the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 and the School Anxiety Inventory. Results supported the four-factor structure (I. Avoidance of Negative Affectivity, II. Escape from Social and/or Evaluative situations, III. Pursuit of Attention and IV. Pursuit of Tangible Reinforcement). This model remained invariant across gender and age and adequate levels of internal consistency were obtained for the factors (.77, .81, .75 and .71). Girls reported higher levels of Escaping from Social Evaluation than boys, and boys reported higher levels of Pursuing Tangible Reinforcements than girls. The oldest students (17–18 years) scored higher on Avoiding Negative Affectivity and Escape from Social or Evaluation situations than the younger students. Discriminant validity was examined and significant correlations with other measures were found. These findings provide initial support for the use of the SRAS-R as a measure to assess school refusal in Ecuadorian adolescents. Keywords School refusal . Factorial invariance . Latent mean differences . Adolescents
Investigations have showed that school refusal behavior is linked with poor academic performance (Barry et al. 2010; Thornton et al. 2013; Yahaya et al. 2010) and a higher risk of presenting externalizing behavior problems or emotional maladjustments (Maynard et al. 2012; Nelemans et al. 2014). This problem not only affects students, it also brings youth into conflict with their families (Christogiorgos and Giannakopoulos 2014). Early identification of individuals at risk is essential to avoid negative consequences, such as school dropouts. In Latin America, progress has been made
* Ricardo Sanmartín [email protected] 1
Department of Developmental Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, 03690 (Alicante), Spain
2
Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Avda. de la Universidad, 03202 Elche (Alicante), Spain
3
Central University of Ecuador, America Avenue, Quito, Ecuador
on this issue in primary education, but the greatest dropout rates occur at upper secondary education (Bentaouet-Kattan and Székely 2015). Therefore, valid assessment tools are necessary to identify t
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