Open AccessMeasuring Irritability in Early Childhood: A Psychometric Evaluation of the Affective Reactivity Index in a Clinical Sample of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children
Author(s) -
Maria K. Wilson,
Danielle Cornacchio,
Melissa A. Brotman,
Jonathan S. Comer
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
assessment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.59
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1552-3489
pISSN - 1073-1911
DOI - 10.1177/10731911211020078
Subject(s) - irritability , psychology , confirmatory factor analysis , clinical psychology , aggression , convergent validity , anxiety , developmental psychology , early childhood , psychometrics , psychiatry , structural equation modeling , statistics , mathematics , internal consistency
The parent-report Affective Reactivity Index (ARI-P) is the most studied brief scale specifically developed to assess irritability, but relatively little is known about its performance in early childhood (i.e., ≤8 years). Support in such populations is particularly important given developmental shifts in what constitutes normative irritability across childhood. We examined the performance of the ARI-P in a diverse, treatment-seeking sample of children ages 3 to 8 years ( N = 115; mean age = 5.56 years; 58.4% from ethnic/racial minority backgrounds). In this sample, confirmatory factor analysis supported the single-factor structure of the ARI-P previously identified with older youth. ARI-P scores showed large associations with another irritability index, as well as small-to-large associations with aggression, anxiety, depression, and attention problems, supporting the convergent and concurrent validity of the ARI-P when used with children in this younger age range. Findings support the ARI-P as a promising parent-report tool for assessing irritability in early childhood, particularly in clinical samples.