ABSTRACT
Making valid comparisons of latent variable (LV) mean scores* across groups is anything but a trivial task as it relies on stringent measurement invariance conditions. Many authors (e.g., Little, 1997; Meredith, 1993; Van de Vijver & Leung, 1997) have rmly stated that in order for such comparisons to be valid, all factor loadings as well as all indicator intercepts need to be invariant across groups (i.e., they are required to exhibit scalar invariance, also referred to as full score invariance across groups; Van de Vijver & Leung, 1997, p. 144).
