Malaysian parent and teacher ratings of the oppositional defiant disorder symptoms: Measurement invariance and parent–teacher agreement

•Knowledge of measurement invariance of ODD symptoms can facilitate is diagnosis.•Findings indicated this across parent and teacher ratings.•Thus ODD symptom ratings from these respondents are directly comparable.•Findings showed low parent–teacher agreement for all symptoms.•This suggests the need to consider ratings of both respondents for ODD diagnosis.

BackgroundThis study evaluated the measurement invariance and agreement across parent and teacher ratings of the DSM-IV-TR oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms.MethodMalaysian parents and teachers of 934 children (between 6 and 11 years of age) completed rating scales comprising the ODD symptoms.ResultsFindings showed support for full measurement invariance (configural, metric and thresholds). Additional results indicated low parent–teacher agreement for all symptoms.DiscussionThe theoretical and clinical and implications of these findings are discussed.