Examination of the BASC-2 SRP-A with Native American youth

Scope and Method of Study: This study compared the responses of Native American youths ages 12-18 on the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2nd Edition (BASC-2) Self-Report-Adolescent (SRP-A) to a random sample of 200 from the BASC-2 normative sample. Two analyses were conducted: the first analysis was a 2X2 MANOVA (n=162) comparing the two samples among composite scales. The second analysis (n=157) examined if composite scale differences were related to ethnic identity as measured by the Bicultural Ethnic Identity scale (BEIS).Findings and Conclusions: For the first analysis, a two group MANOVA was performed on the 5 BASC-2 SRP-A composite scales and Inattention/Hyperactivity was found to be significantly different across the two samples with a small to medium effect size (Cohen's d = 0.29). For the second analysis, participants were split into one of four acculturation groups using a median split. After the groups were identified a 2X2 ANOVA was conducted. Interaction between White and Indian scale scores were found to be statistically significant. A simple main effects post hoc analysis was conducted and revealed significant differences in inattention/hyperactivity composite scale scores were found across high and low levels of identification with the White culture. Students who identified as high with the White scale were similar to the normative sample, while students who identified as low with the White scale were significantly different from the normative sample. Participants' level of identification (low versus high) with their Native culture did not impact their scores on the inattention/hyperactivity composite scale. Ethnic identification with both the mainstream culture and the students' Native culture should be examined when conducting evaluations using the BASC-2 SRP-A