Factorial Validity and Measurement Invariance of the Arabic Version of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties and the measurement invariance of the Arabic version of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale- Second Edition (CARS-2). Two hundred Arabic-speaking children, aged 2 to 12 years, who had received an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis were recruited to the study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) used to evaluate the structure of the scale. McDonald Omega and Cronbach’s alpha total coefficient values were both .88. A three-factor solution was best suited to the data and the third CFA iteration yielded significant improvement, with the RMSEA value indicating a good fit and the CFI and TLI values indicating a suitable fit. For the measurement invariance evaluation, the configural model produced an acceptable match for the age variable only. For the gender variable, we found evidence of configural, metric, scalar, and strict, and measurement invariance was stablished for males and females. CARS-2 is currently accessible for clinical and research use in the Arabic language and has strong psychometric properties.