Validity and Measurement Invariance of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire across Adolescent Sex and Ethnicity in the UK Millennium Cohort Study
Discuss this preprint
Start a discussion What are Sciety discussions?Listed in
This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.Abstract
Adolescence is a critical period for the onset of depression symptoms. The Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) is a widely used screening tool for depression. However, it remains unclear whether this questionnaire measures the same construct across adolescent sex and ethnicity. The present study investigated the measurement invariance (MI) and convergent validity of the SMFQ across sex and ethnicity in a sample of adolescents from a United Kingdom (UK) cohort study. Data was obtained from the sixth sweep (aged 14, n = 8814) in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the SMFQ had a unidimensional factor structure. This model demonstrated MI at configural, metric, and scalar levels across sex and ethnicity. The SMFQ scores were significantly positively related to internalising symptoms, and negatively related to self-esteem and happiness. The findings provide support for the MI of the SMFQ across sex and major ethnic groups in the UK and for its convergent validity, supporting its use as a promising screening tool for depression symptoms in mid-adolescence.
