FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALES FOR CHILDREN-FOURTH EDITION AMONG REFERRED NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS

The Native American population is severely underrepresented in empirical test validity research despite being overrepresented in special education programs and at increased risk for psychoeducational evaluation. The structural validity of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) was investigated with a sample of 176, six-to-sixteen-year-old Native American children referred for a psychoeducational evaluation. Confirmatory factor analysis procedures replicated the normative first-order factor structure and a higher-order general ability factor that accounted for the greatest amount of common (69%) and total (33%) variance. These results support the structural validity of the WISC-IV with a referred Native American sample and suggest that interpretation of the WISC-IV scores should not neglect the strong general ability factor.