In children's mental health, many psychological assessments are critical to measure end outcomes. And equally valid measures are essential for health services outcome research in diverse populations. Examination of equal validity in tests measuring the emotional, motivational, attitudinal, and interpersonal characteristics of children can be achieved with factor analytic tools. Factor analysis assumes a particular measurement model, effect indicator model. However, some psychological measures such as Child Behavior Checklist are not clear whether effect indicator model is assumed. In this paper, an alternative measurement model, causal indicator model, was introduced. Measurement equivalence of CBCL was tested using multiple group analysis based on effect indicator model and using principal component analysis based on causal indicator model. The results showed that measurement equivalence tests based on the two measurement models in CBCL led to similar conclusions. We conclude that the two measurement models could be complementary for explaining differential validity of psychological measures across sub-populations.
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