title: School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised: Factorial Invariance and Latent Means Differences across Gender and Age in Spanish Children.
abstract: The aim of this study was to analyze the factorial invariance and latent means differences of the Spanish version of the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised for Children (SRAS-R-C) in a sample of 1,078 students (50.8% boys) aged 8-11 years (M= 9.63,SD= 1.12). The results revealed that the proposed model in this study, with a structure of 18 items divided into four factors (Negative Affective, Social Aversion and/or Evaluation, To Pursue Attention and Tangible Reinforcements), was the best-fit model with a tetra-factorial structure, remaining invariant across gender and age. Analysis of latent means differences indicated that boys and 11-year-old students scored highest on the Tangible Reinforcements subscale compared with their 8- and 9-year-old peers. On the contrary, for the subscales of Social Aversion and/or Evaluation and to Pursue Attention, the differences were significant and higher in younger age groups compared to 11-year-olds. Appropriate indexes of reliability were obtained for SRAS-R-C subscales (0.70, 0.79, 0.87, and 0.72). Finally, the founded correlation coefficients of scores of the SRAS-R-C revealed a predictable pattern between school refusal and positive/negative affect and optimism/pessimism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gonzálvez
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernandez University of Elche Elche, Spain.
authors.forename: Cándido J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Inglés
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas NV, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Kearney
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vicent
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanmartín
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: García-Fernández
keywords: SRAS-R-C; factorial invariance; latent means differences; primary education; school refusal; validation