Such a question is important to answer in that determining the latent structure of ODD will (a) help to further refine the diagnostic criteria for ODD, (b) aid with the development of instruments used to assess symptoms of ODD, (c) have implications for understanding the etiology of ODD, and (d) contribute to the development of treatments for children with ODD. For example, knowing the latent structure of ODD can inform whether psychometric research should focus on determining the most accurate cut score for case assignment (if taxonic) or on examining the correlates of a measure (if dimensional). Furthermore, dimensional findings could support the study of subclinical populations for understanding the etiology and treatment of ODD, whereas a taxonic structure would indicate that research on ODD should be limited to those who meet full diagnostic criteria (see Ruscio and Ruscio, 2004). Thus, a better understanding of the latent structure of the disorder has obvious clinical implications. Furthermore, it is an important issue for research given that most studies use a dimensional approach to symptom measurement (Frick and Nigg, 2012) despite the
