2018 Vol.5 No.1:1 1 © Under License of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License | Find this article in: http://childhood-developmental-disorders.imedpub.com/ iMedPub Journals www.imedpub.com Research Article Journal of Childhood & Developmental Disorders ISSN 2472-1786 DOI: 10.4172/2472-1786.100079 Rapson Gomez 1 * and Alasdair Vance 2 1 The School of Health and Life Sciences, Federaton University Australia, Victoria, Australia 2 Royal Children’s Hospital and The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia *Corresponding author: Rapson Gomez  rapson.gomez@federaton.edu.au The School of Health and Life Sciences, Federaton University Australia, University Drive, Mt Helen, PO Box 663, Ballarat, Victoria, 3353, Australia. Citation: Gomez R, Vance A (2018) Conners 3-Parent (Short): Measurement Invariance Across Gender, Concurrent and Discriminant Validites. J Child Dev Disord. Vol.5 No.1:1 Introducton The Conners 3-Parent Short (C 3-P (S)) [1] is used as a quick measure for facilitatng the diagnosis of Atenton Defcit/ Hyperactvity Disorder (ADHD) and the more common disorders [in partcular Learning Disorder (LD), Conduct Disorder (CD), and Oppositonal Defant Disorder (ODD)) that are comorbid with ADHD in children between 6 and 18 years of age. The C 3-P (S) has a mixture of content and validity scales. The content scales are inatenton (IN, 5 items,), hyperactvity/impulsivity (HY, 6 items), learning problems (LP, 5 items), executve functoning (EF, 5 items), aggression (AG, 5 items) and peer relatons (PR, 5 items). The present study extended exitng psychometric data for this measure. It used confrmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine measurement invariance, and equivalencies of the latent factors mean scores across gender, and how the six scales (factors) in the C 3-P (S) were associated with common DSM-IV externalizing and internalizing childhood disorders. As reported in the Conners 3 (C 3) manual [1], inital validaton of the C 3-P (S) using CFA of the items for only the content scales found support for the theorized six-factor oblique model. According to the C 3 manual, the ratngs of the C 3-P (S) items are associated with age, gender and race/ethnicity. For gender, the scores for IA, HY and EF are higher for boys than girls. Consequently, separate normatve scores have been provided for boys and girls. However, when providing these scores, it was not established if there is measurement invariance across ratngs for boys and girls. This is a serious omission that could compromise the use of these normatve scores, as explained next. Measurement invariance refers to groups reportng the same observed scores when they have the same level of the underlying trait [2]. Invariance would mean that for the groups being compared, the measure in queston is using the same measurement and scaling propertes. If there is weak or no support for invariance, then it follows that the groups in queston cannot be justfably compared in terms of observed scores as the same observed scores for the groups do not refect the same levels of the underlying trait. When applied to the C 3-P (S), the absence of gender measurement invariance would mean that we cannot be confdent in the use of normatve scores provided in the C 3 manual. Multple-group CFA is a powerful method for testng measurement invariance [3]. This procedure can test for confgural invariance, metric invariance (equal item factor loadings), scaler invariance (equal item intercepts and thresholds for contnuous and categorical responses, respectvely), and error variances invariance. Support for confgural invariance indicates that the Conners 3-Parent (Short): Measurement Invariance Across Gender, Concurrent and Discriminant Validites Abstract The study examined measurement invariance (confgural, factor loadings, thresholds, and error variances), and equivalencies of latent mean scores of the Conners 3-Parent (Short); (C 3-P (S)) across maternal ratngs of clinic-referred boys (N = 354) and girls (N = 151), aged 7 to 17 years. It also examined the concurrent and discriminant validites of the scores for the C 3-P (S). Confrmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated support for the theorized six-factor model. For this model, there was support for full measurement invariance and equivalencies for the latent mean scores. There was also support for the concurrent and discriminant validites of the scores for the C 3-P (S) scales. The fndings are discussed in relaton to the use of the C 3-P (S). Keywords: Conners 3-Parent (Short); Measurement invariance; Gender; Concurrent and discriminant validites Received: November 20, 2018; Accepted: December 12, 2018; Published: December 21, 2018