Bender-Gestalt II differential item functioning across Caucasian and African American examinees

Abstract

Performance on figure copying tasks is empirically linked to the school readiness, learning, cognition, and neuropsychological functioning. These nonverbal tasks are frequently used to evaluate children from diverse backgrounds to minimize bias due to factors such as language, ethnicity, culture, or socioeconomic status on test performance. The current study examined the possible Differential Item Functioning across African American and Caucasian groups, ages 4 to 7 years, in Bender Motor Gestalt Test, Second Edition (BG-II) visual-motor scores. Results indicated that in general the BG-II can be considered invariant across these ethnic groups in this age range.