School refusal evaluation scale: factorial invariance and latent means differences across gender and age in Spanish adolescents

The aim of this study was to evaluate the factorial invariance and latent means differences across gender and age, as part of the validation process for the Spanish version of the School Refusal Evaluation Scale (SCREEN). The study included a sample of 681 students (50.2% boys) aged 13 to 16 years (M = 14.14; SD = 1.31), selected from schools of the province of Alicante. The SCREEN is an 18-item self-report instrument for students aged 11 to 16 years that assesses four dimensions of School Refusal: Anxious anticipation (Factor I), Difficult transition (Factor II), Interpersonal discomfort (Factor III), and School avoidance (Factor IV), demonstrating adequate internal consistency in other countries. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the Spanish SCREEN supported the hypothesized four-factor structure with 12-items after removing 6 items due to low factor loadings and redundancy and demonstrated an excellent model fit to the data (RMSEA = 0.052; CFI = 0.949; SRMR = 0.043; TLI = 0.930). Latent mean differences were identified across gender, with higher scores for girls in Factor III (F = 18.20, p < .001; d = 0.47). The SCREEN scale may offer valuable insights into unique aspects of school refusal that are not typically addressed by other instruments.