Measurement of alienation among adolescents: construct validity of three scales on powerlessness, meaninglessness and social isolation

Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes

Table 3 DIF and LD present in the three scales

Alienation dimension	LD/DIF	Items and covariates	χ2	df	p
Powerlessness	LD	‘Cannot overcome problems’ & ‘Cannot manage things’	83.54	4	< 0.001
	DIF	‘Feeling helpless’ & ‘Migration status’	14.49	4	< 0.01
		‘Feeling helpless’ & ‘Age group’	16.55	2	< 0.001
		‘Feeling helpless’ & ‘Sex’	21.80	2	< 0.001
Meaninglessness	LD	‘Things have no meaning’ & ‘Not knowing what is going on’	371.61	4	< 0.001
Meaninglessness	DIF	‘Things have no meaning’ & ‘Age group’	9.54	2	< 0.01
Social isolation	LD	‘Feeling left out’ & ‘Feeling lonely’	236.71	4	< 0.001
		‘Not feeling close to family’ & ‘No support when unhappy’	127.93	4	< 0.001
		‘Not feeling close to family’ & ‘Not belonging’	39.09	4	< 0.001
	DIF	‘Feeling left out’ & ‘Sex’	26.18	2	< 0.001
		‘Not feeling close to family’ & ‘Age group’	13.49	2	0.001
		‘No support when unhappy’ & ‘Sex’	29.94	2	< 0.001
		‘Feeling lonely’ & ‘Sex’	6.76	2	0.022
		‘Not belonging’ & ‘Sex’	7.65	2	0.022