(PS3-A14) Assessing Psychosocial Competencies Across Early and Middle Childhood: Measurement Invariance of the Psychosocial Strengths Inventory–short Form (PSICA-SF)

Growing evidence supports the unique salience of childhood psychosocial competencies (e.g., prosociality, affect regulation) on developmental outcomes. Namely, deficits in psychosocial competencies uniquely increase risk for current and future psychopathology; whereas, higher psychosocial competencies in childhood protect against future psychopathology and negative developmental cascades (Dahl & Brownell, 2019; Huber et al., 2019; Masten & Chicchetti, 2010; van der Graaff et al., 2018). Given these findings, there is a need for measures of psychosocial competencies that are psychometrically validated with multiple ages, particularly as competencies can change in frequency, function, and complexity across childhood (Baillargeon et al., 2007; Tomasello, 2014). Moreover, such measures need to be pragmatic (e.g., brief, free, easy to score) for both research and clinical use. One promising option is the Psychosocial Strengths Inventory for Children and Adolescents Short Form (PSICA-SF; Hynes et al., 2023), a free 9-item multidimensional caregiver-report measure of psychosocial competencies in youth aged 2–16 years. Prior studies support the PSICA-SF’s 3- factor structure and related subscales (i.e., Prosociality, Compliance, Attention), good internal consistency (total α = .88; subscales αs = .80–.85) as well as its face, convergent, and criterion validity (Hynes et al., 2023), especially in comparison to the original 36-item PSICA (Niec et al., 2017; see Briegel et al., 2018; Korell & Peer, 2023; Todd & Niec, 2022). However, no study with either the PSICA-SF (or PSICA) has yet examined whether it demonstrates sufficient measurement invariance across early versus middle childhood. To test this hypothesis, a nationally representative, online-recruited sample of 865 caregivers (56.2% biological mothers, 39.0% biological fathers) completed the PSICA-SF on one of their children aged 2–10 (54.7% boys; age M = 5.4, SD = 2.6; 71.9% White, 12.8% Black, 5.6% Asian, 8.2% multiracial, 0.8% Native American; 26.1% had clinical levels of externalizing and/or internalizing problems). To assess age-related measurement invariance, youth were divided into two groups: early childhood (ages 2–6, 63.5%, n = 549) and middle childhood (ages 7–10, 35.5%, n = 316). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported the PSICA-SF’s original 3-factor structure for the overall sample as well as the early and middle childhood subsamples (CFIs = .98–99, TLIs = .98–.99, RMSEAs = .03–.05, SRMR = .02–.03). Moreover, while child age did correlate positively with PSICA-SF scale and subscale scores to significant, if small degree (r² = .10–.28, ps < .05), multi-group CFA results indicated that, based on Chen’s (2007) standards, the PSICA-SF had sufficient configural (DCFI = .006, DRMSEA = -.013, DSRMR = -.006), metric invariance (DCFI = .008, DRMSEA = -.014, DSRMR = -.002), and scalar (DCFI = .012, DRMSEA = -.016, DSRMR = -.019) across early and middle childhood. Combined with past findings, these results support the PSICA-SF as a pragmatic, psychometrically sound, multidimensional measure of child psychosocial competence for child screening, case conceptualization, progress monitoring, and program evaluation across early and middle childhood.