Convergent and Divergent Validity of the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment

Nickerson, Amanda B.
Fishman, Callen

¹Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York

We express appreciation to Paul LeBuffe, Valerie Shapiro, Kathryn Cook, Wendy Eichler, Kristin Read, and Meredith Smith for their efforts in data collection and entry. We are also grateful to the parents, teachers, and afterschool staff who took part in the study.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Amanda Nickerson, University at Albany, State University of New York, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, ED 232, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222. E-mail: [email protected]

School Psychology Quarterly 24(1):p 48-59, March 2009. | DOI: 10.1037/a0015147

This study assessed the convergent and divergent validity of the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA; LeBuffe, Shapiro, & Naglieri, 2008). A total of 227 (n = 94 teachers, n = 133 parents) raters completed the DESSA, in addition to the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scales-2 (BERS-2; ) and/or the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2; ). All DESSA and BERS-2 subscales and total scales completed by parents and teachers correlated significantly. DESSA subscales and BASC-2 Adaptive Skills subscales correlated significantly for both parent and teacher raters. The divergent validity of the DESSA was explored by correlating the Total Protective Factor scale and subscales with the BASC-2 Behavioral Symptoms Index and clinical subscales. The majority of correlations for the parent ratings were significantly, negatively correlated, with the exception of the Anxiety, Somatization, and Withdrawal subscales. Support for the convergent validity of the DESSA was consistent across raters (e.g., parents; teachers) and measures (e.g., BASC-2; BERS-2). Thus, these findings support the divergent validity of the DESSA.