Citation

Whitt A, Howard MO. Res. Soc. Work Pract. 2012; 22(2): 166-173.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1049731511418786

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) is widely used in juvenile justice settings; however, little is known regarding its factor structure in antisocial youth. The authors evaluated the BSI factor structure in a state residential treatment population.

METHODS: 707 adolescents completed the BSI. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess factor structure. Intergroup variability was examined using multiple-group structural equation modeling.

RESULTS: Findings supported a 6-factor, 25-item model explaining 49.5% of sample variance. The derived structure differed from prior findings with adult psychiatric patients by including a suicidal ideation latent variable and excluding several developmentally inappropriate factors.

CONCLUSION: There may be problems associated with indiscriminant application of the original BSI factor model to juvenile justice populations.

Language: en