Factorial Structure of Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children Fourth Edition: A Comparative Study of the Confirmatory Factor analysis between the First-Order, the Hierarchical, and the Bifactor Models

The current research aimed at investigating the factorial structure of Wechsler intelligence scale, the fourth Egyptian version, through comparing the interpretations of Wechsler on the one hand and Cattell, Horn and Carroll (CHC) on the other hand, where the three models were compared from each perspective, they are as follows: the First-order, the hierarchical, and the bifactor models. The analysis was conducted on a sample consisting of (2509) children whose age ranged from (6: 6.11). The confirmatory factor analysis of its three types was conducted on the scale according to Wechsler's perspective: First-order models, (one factor, two factors of the first order, three factors of the first order, and the four factors of the first order), the hierarchical model and the bifactor model. Results revealed that the scale was valid and reliable through factor loading factors, the average variance extracted, composite reliability and Omega reliability. Moreover, when comparing the three models, the best of them was the bifactor model, followed by the hierarchical model, and then the First-order model. Besides, the confirmatory factor analysis of the three models was also conducted according to Cattell, Horn and Carroll (CHC) perspectives' of intelligence. Results revealed that the scale was valid and reliable according to the results factor loading factors, the average variance extracted, composite reliability and Omega reliability. However, it was not clear when comparing the models the preference of either.  In general, Wechsler's perspective of intelligence is more evident than that of Cattell, Horn and Carroll (CHC) on the current scale and that the Egyptian version of Wechsler scale has a constructive validity and reliability as indicated by the results of the composite reliability and Omega reliability.