The dyadic invariance of the parent version of the Elementary School Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale in parental dyads

Assessing measurement invariance is crucial for ascertaining whether observed differences in a construct genuinely represent differences between groups or arise from inconsistencies in the measurement process. Among the various types of measurement invariance, dyadic invariance represents an important assumption to test before comparing values among individuals within a dyad. Dyadic invariance involves modeling observed and latent factors in each group into a single structure while accounting for intercorrelations between dyad members by incorporating covariances between the cross-group latent factors and item error pairs. The study aimed to examine the dyadic invariance of the parent-proxy Elementary School Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (Caviola et al., 2017; Primi et al., 2020) across reports provided by mothers and fathers. The parent version of the ES-AMAS (ES-AMAS-P) was administered to 550 dyads of mothers (Mage = 42.91 years; SD = 4.99) and fathers (Mage = 45.80 years; SD = 5.63) of children attending primary school (54% female). After verifying that the two-factor factor structure had a good fit in both groups, the dyadic invariance of the ESAMAS-P between the two members of the parental dyad was assessed. Full dyadic invariance was met, indicating that the ES-AMAS-P works equally for both members of the parental dyad. Our results corroborate the internal validity of the ES-AMAS-P and support the feasibility of administering the scale equivalently to either of the two parents