Measurement Invariance of Torrance Test of Creative Thinking Figural Scores across Age: A study in Spanish-Speaking Children and Adolescents

Resumen En base a un estudio previo que indica que el constructo creatividad operacionalizado con el Test de Pensamiento Creativo de Torrance (TTCT) de Figuras esta compuesto por dos factores –Innovacion y Adaptacion– en ninos de habla hispana (Krumm, Lemos & Aran Filippetti, en prensa), el objetivo de este trabajo fue comprobar si esta estructura es invariante segun la edad de los sujetos. Se trabajo con una muestra de 652 ninos y adolescentes de 9 a 17 anos de ambos sexos de habla hispana divididos en tres grupos: (a) 9-10 anos, (b) 11-13 anos y (c) 16-17 anos. El Analisis Factorial Confirmatorio (AFC) mostro que la estructura del TTCT esta integrada por dos factores correlacionados, Innovacion y Adaptacion en las tres muestras de estudio. Ademas, los resultados del AFC multigrupo revelaron que la estructura de dos factores es invariante (configural y metrica) a traves del edad, lo que significa que los ninos y adolescentes conceptualizan el constructo Creatividad de la misma manera. Finalmente, el analisis multivariado de varianza (MANOVA) revelo un efecto significativo de la edad en todas las subescalas. Estos datos muestran la importancia de la edad como un factor a tener en cuenta en el estudio del potencial creativo a traves del TTCT-Figuras. Palabras claves : Medidas de invariancia; Edad; Test de Pensamiento Creativo de Torrance; TTCT-Figuras; Creatividad. Abstract On the basis of a previous study carried out with Spanish-speaking children which indicates that the Creativity construct, operationalized by means of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)-Figural, consists of two factors –Innovation and Adaptation– (Krumm, Lemos & Aran Filippetti, in press), the objective of the present work was to prove whether this structure is invariant across age. A sample of 652 Spanish-speaking children and adolescents aged 9-17 years of both sexes was tested. It was in turn divided into three age groups: (a) 9-10, (b) 11-13 and (c) 16 -17 years. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) showed that in each group of the sample, the structure of the TTCT is composed of two correlated factors, namely Innovation and Adaptation. In addition, Multigroup CFA demonstrated that the two-factor solution was actually invariant (configural and metric) across age, meaning that children and adolescents equally conceptualize the Creativity construct. Finally, MANOVA showed a significant age effect on every subscale. These data suggest the relevance of considering the age factor when assessing the creative potential through the TTCT-Figural. Keywords: Measurement Invariance; Age; Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking; TTCT-Figuras; Creativity