Construct validity of the Spanish Version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fifth Edition (WISC-V^Spain)

ABSTRACT

The construct validity of the Spanish Version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fifth Edition (WISC-V^Spain) was investigated via confirmatory factor analysis. For all 15 subtests, the higher-order model preferred by Wechsler (2015b) contained five group factors but lacked discriminant validity. A bifactor model with five group factors and one general factor in a Cattell-Horn-Carroll framework exhibited good fit when the Fluid Reasoning and Visual Spatial group factors were allowed to correlate but was compromised by low discriminant validity with concomitant interpretation confounding. A bifactor model with four group factors and one general factor akin to the traditional Wechsler model also exhibited good global fit and afforded greater parsimony through simple structure and fewer factors. In both models, the general factor was predominant, accounting for around 35% of the total variance and 67% of the common variance and about twice the variance accounted for by all the group factors combined. Similar results were obtained when the 10 primary subtests were analyzed. For both 10- and 15-subtest analyses, results demonstrated that reliable variance of WISC-V^Spain factor index scores was primarily due to the general factor. It was concluded that the cumulative weight of reliability and validity evidence suggests that psychologists should focus their interpretive efforts at the general factor level and exercise extreme caution when using group factor scores to make decisions about individuals.

KEYWORDS:

• WISC-V
• CFA
• Spain
• intelligence
• validity
• reliability

About the authors

Dr. Javier Fenollar-Cortés is Associate Professor of the Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology at University of Murcia (Spain). His research interests are in clinical assessment, school psychology and ADHD. He also works in collaboration with the Centre of Child Development and Early Attention HIGEA.

Dr. Marley W. Watkins is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Educational Psychology at Baylor University in Waco, TX. His research interests include the study of individual differences.