Small Enough to Use, Sharper Together: VQIDS and FIRM in U.S. Youth Ages 6–18
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Objective
Brief measures of depressive symptoms and family psychiatry history may support the identification of youth who warrant further assessment, but their interpretation requires population-based measurement evidence. This study evaluated the Very Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (VQIDS) and Family Index of Risk for Mood (FIRM) in the BENCHMARK 2025 national survey.
Method
The sample consisted of 2,252 parent reports for children aged 6-18 years and 1,008 linked adolescent self-reports aged 12-18 years. Analyses examined VQIDS dimensionality, reliability, item functioning, age- and sex-based norms, and informant agreement, alongside FIRM score distributions, alternative scoring approaches, and associations with depressive symptoms.
Results
VQIDS findings supported a single dimension and good internal consistency, with greatest IRT precision at elevated symptom levels and no practically meaningful differential item functioning across age or sex. Two-week stability was moderate, and parent-adolescent agreement was lower within more symptomatic subsets. FIRM totals showed stronger cross-informant agreement and retest stability. Family history scores were associated with higher VQIDS percentiles and discriminated scores at or above the 90 th percentile across informants (AUROC = .670-.698). FIRM’s associations were strongest with internalizing symptoms, although evidence was mixed for mood specificity.
Conclusions
These findings provide a measurement and normative foundation for brief depressive symptom assessment and support family history as a complementary correlate of symptom elevation. Diagnostic and prospective prediction utility require further evaluation.
