Construct Validity of the WISC-IV With a Referred Sample: Direct Versus Indirect Hierarchical Structures

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) is one of the most frequently used intelligence tests in clinical assessments of children with learning difficulties. Construct validity studies of the WISC-IV have generally supported the higher order structure with four correlated first-order factors and one higher-order general intelligence factor, but recent studies have supported an alternate model in which general intelligence is conceptualized as a breadth factor rather than a superordinate factor (M. W. Watkins, 2010, Structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition among a national sample of referred students, Psychological Assessment, Vol. 22, pp. 782-787; M. W. Watkins, G. L. Canivez, T. James, K. & R. Good, in press, Construct validity of the WISC-IVUK with a large referred Irish sample, International Journal of School and Educational Psychology). WISC-IV core subtest data obtained from evaluations to assess learning difficulties in 345 children (224 boys, 121 girls) were examined. One through four, first order factor models and indirect versus direct hierarchical models were compared using confirmatory factor analyses. The correlated four-factor Wechsler model provided good fit to these data, but the direct hierarchical model showed statistically significant improvement over the indirect hierarchical model and correlated four-factor model. The direct hierarchical model was judged the best explanation of the WISC-IV factor structure, with the general factor accounting for 71.6% of the common variance while the first order factors accounted for 2.4-10.3% of the common variance. Thus, the results with the present sample of referred children were similar to those from other investigations (G. E. Gignac, 2005, Revisiting the factor structure of the WAIS-R: Insights through nested factor modeling, Assessment, Vol. 12, pp. 320-329; G. E. Gignac, 2006, The WAIS-III as a nested factors model: A useful alternative to the more conventional oblique and higher-order models, Journal of Individual Differences, Vol. 27, pp. 73-86; P. Golay, I. Reverte, J. Rossier, N. Favez, & T. Lecerf, 2012, Further insights on the French WISC-IV factor structure through Bayesian structural equation modeling. Psychological Assessment, advance online publication; M. W. Watkins, 2010, Structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition among a national sample of referred students, Psychological Assessment, Vol. 22, pp. 782-787; M. W. Watkins, G. L. Canivez, T. James, K. & R. Good, in press, Construct validity of the WISC-IVUK with a large referred Irish sample, International Journal of School and Educational Psychology) supporting primary interpretation of the Full Scale IQ rather than the factor index scores.