Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Degree Granting Department
Psychology
Major Professor
Edelyn Verona, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Keanan Joyner, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Kemesha Gabbidon, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Stephen Stark, Ph.D.
Keywords
Ecological Systems Theory, Measurement Bias, Personality, Systemic Disparities
Abstract
Externalizing forms of psychopathology are said to result from a general liability towards impulsive and disruptive behaviors, including substance use, conduct problems, aggression, and antisocial behavior (Krueger et al., 2021). While the field often focuses on dispositional explanations of externalizing behaviors, there is a notable lack of attention to the contextual factors that contribute to these behaviors, beyond immediate environmental influences. This study uses Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 2005) as a framework to address such gaps in the context of behavioral indicators of the latent externalizing (EXT) construct, an analysis with implications for understanding racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities. The present study examines if certain behavioral indicators of EXT vary in the extent to which they reflect the respective traits (metric invariance) or how much EXT trait levels explain observed values of behavioral indicators (scalar invariance) across system-involved youth exposed to varying levels of environmental and systemic disadvantages (e.g., disorganized neighborhoods, racial identity, procedural injustice). Results indicated that metric invariance generally held across contexts, except for higher antisocial peer affiliation, which significantly strengthened the loadings of all EXT indicators. In contrast, scalar noninvariance was evident across nearly all contextual moderators; greater disadvantage tended to raise the intercept values for EXT indicators beyond the latent trait level. School discipline, substance use, juvenile court case history, and impulsivity intercepts appeared to be the most vulnerable to measurement bias. This research is important for addressing biases inherent in our measures and enhancing the cultural sensitivity and accuracy of assessments of externalizing across varied populations.
Scholar Commons Citation
Smith, Kendall D., "Considering Context in Latent Models of Externalizing: Measurement Invariance by Environmental and Systemic Disadvantage in System-Involved Youth" (2026). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/11419
