Abstract
Depression is considered a leading cause of illness and disability worldwide. Early identification of depressive symptomatology is urgent to prevent its negative consequences in the lives of children and adolescents. The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) stands out as one of the most useful measures for screening depression in youth. The parent version of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-P) consists of a 13-item scale for screening depression in children and adolescents. This study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the SMFQ-P in a sample of Spanish children aged 8–12. The sample comprised 374 children whose parents completed the Spanish version of the SMFQ-P. Results showed excellent internal consistency of the SMFQ-P (α = .92), and excellent test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = .76). The original one-factor model of the SMFQ-P was confirmed in this sample of Spanish children, and all 13 items displayed adequate corrected item-factor correlation values. These findings reveal the SMFQ-P as a brief and reliable measure to assess depression in children and adolescents through their parents.
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We are grateful to all the families who took part in this study.
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Conceptualization, project administration, supervision and writing—original draft completed by José Pedro Espada. Àngela Belzunegui-Pastor contributed to investigation and writing—original draft. Alexandra Morales contributed to methodology, formal analysis, and writing—review and editing. Conceptualization, methodology, project administration, writing—review and editing was completed by Mireia Orgilés.
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Procedures for this study were approved by the Institutional Review Board at Miguel Hernández University (DPS.MOA.210423).
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José P. Espada, Àngela Belzunegui-Pastor, Alexandra Morales, and Mireia Orgilés have no relevant financial or nonfinancial interests to disclose.
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Espada, J.P., Belzunegui-Pastor, À., Morales, A. et al. Validation of the Parent Version of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-P) for Spanish Children Aged 8–12. J Psychopathol Behav Assess (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-023-10117-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-023-10117-w