The Conners Parent Rating scale: Confirmatory factorial analysis on preliminary data in a sample of 5-10 years old Belgian French speaking children
-
1
University of LIEGE, Neuropsychology, Belgium
Introduction
The Conners Parent Rating Scale-48 items (CPRS) is one of the most used behavioral scales in clinical and research settings with children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders, and particularly with children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This scale provides an interesting qualitative and quantitative picture of the emotional and behavioural children’s attitude by including five subscales assessing conduct problem, learning problem, anxiety, impulsive/hyperactive behaviour and psychosomatic feelings (e.g., Goyette, Conners, & Ulrich, 1978). Previous versions of this scale were developed to contribute to the identification of hyperkinetic children and evaluate treatment efficiency. To our knowledge, no study has verified the factor structure of the French version of the CPRS. In this context, the principal aims of this study were to verify the five-factor structure of the French version of the CPRS and therefore to provide preliminary culturally adapted normative data for Belgian French-speaking children aged from 5 to 10 years old.
Method
The CPRS for parents was distributed in several schools in the region of Liège (Belgium). A total of 157 parents of normally developing 5-10 years old children participated in this study (Mean age: 7.94 years, SD: 2.01). Exclusion criteria for participation were a history of traumatic brain injury or neurological, developmental, learning, or psychiatric disorders.
Results
We carried out a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using LISREL 8.80 (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 2006) to examine the factor structure of the French version of the CPRS. We tested the five-factor structure found in Goyette, Conners, and Ulrich (1978) with the English version including the five following subscales: [i] Conduct problem, [ii] Learning problem, [iii] Psychosomatic, [iv] Impulsive-hyperactive, and [v] Anxiety. To evaluate the fit of this model, different goodness-of-fit indexes were employed: (1) the chi-square value and (2) the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA; Browne & Cudeck, 1989). Generally, the fitness index is calculated from the value of the chi-square divided by the degrees of freedom. A value of chi-square/df of less than 2 is considered to be an indication of an adequate fit. The RMSEA indicates a ‘good’ approximation if it is less than .05. A RMSEA between .05 and .08 reflects a ‘reasonable’ approximation, and a RMSEA greater than .08 indicates poor approximation. In line with Goyette, Conners, and Ulrich (1978), a five-factor model was constructed in which the items of the CPRS were hypothesized to reflect these factors. The chi-square of the model was not significant, chi-square(199) = 230.626, p > .05. The chi-square/df ratio is 1.15, which indicates an adequate fit. For the other fit indices, we obtained a RMSEA of .07. The combination of these indices indicated an acceptable fit for the model tested.
The standard item alpha for the whole-scale was .82. The reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) for each of the subscales ranged from .63 to .80 (Mean: .72). The coefficients confirmed the good internal reliability of the inventory.
Discussion
The principal aim of this study was to validate the five-factor structure of the French adaptation of the CPRS in Belgian French-speaking children. Interestingly, the CFA showed that, like the original version, the French adaptation of the CPRS presents good psychometric characteristics. More interestingly, the CFA confirmed that the 48-item scale of the French version of the CPRS specifically assessed the five different children’s behaviours described above. Furthermore, this study provides cultural-adapted normative data for Belgian French-speaking children. Future research will be necessary to examine to what extent this questionnaire can discriminate between children with ADHD and normally developing children.
References
Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1989). Single sample cross-validation indices for covariance structures. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 24, 445–455.
Goyette, C. H., Conners, C. K., & Ulrich, C. F. (1978). Normative data on revised Conners parent and teacher rating scale. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 6, 221-236.
Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (2006). LISREL 8.80 for Windows [computer software]. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International, Inc.
Keywords:
Validation study,
Children,
assessment,
behavioural scale,
confirmatory analyses
Conference:
Belgian Brain Council, Liège, Belgium, 27 Oct - 27 Oct, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Other basic/clinical neurosciences topic
Citation:
Catale
C,
Meulemans
T,
Lejeune
C and
Geurten
M
(2012). The Conners Parent Rating scale: Confirmatory factorial analysis on preliminary data in a sample of 5-10 years old Belgian French speaking children.
Conference Abstract:
Belgian Brain Council.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.210.00034
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
10 Sep 2012;
Published Online:
12 Sep 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Corinne Catale, University of LIEGE, Neuropsychology, LIEGE, Belgium, corinne.catale@ulg.ac.be