Symptoms of depression as reported by Norwegian adolescents on the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire
Open Access
- 1 January 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Psychology
- Vol. 4, 613
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00613
Abstract
The present study investigated sex-differences in reports of depressive symptoms on a Norwegian translation of the short version of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ). The sample comprised 9702 Norwegian adolescents (born 1993 to 1995, 54.9\% girls), mainly attending highschool. A set of statistical analyses were run to investigate the dimensionality of the SMFQ. Girls scored significantly higher than boys on the SMFQ and used the most severe response-category far more frequently. Overall, the statistical analyses supported the essential unidimensionality of SMFQ. However, the items with the highest loadings according to the bifactor analysis, reflecting problems related to tiredness, restlessness and concentration difficulties, indicated that some of the symptoms may both be independent of and part of the symptomatology of depression. Measurement invariance analysis showed that girls scored slightly higher on some items when taking the latent variable into account; girls had a lower threshold for reporting mood problems and problems related to tiredness than boys, who showed a marginally lower threshold for reporting that no-one loved them. However, the effect on the total SMFQ score was marginal, supporting the use of the Norwegian translation of SMFQ as a continuous variable in further studies of adolescents.Keywords
This publication has 42 references indexed in Scilit:
- Adolescence as a turning point: for better and worseEuropean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2012
- Identifying target groups for the prevention of depression in early adolescence: The TRAILS studyJournal of Affective Disorders, 2012
- Early Menarcheal Age and Risk for Later Depressive Symptomatology: The Role of Childhood Depressive SymptomsJournal of Youth and Adolescence, 2012
- Association between pubertal development and depressive symptoms in girls from a UK cohortPsychological Medicine, 2012
- Prevalence and characteristics of depressive disorders in early adolescents in central NorwayChild and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 2011
- Timing of menarche and depressive symptoms in adolescent girls from a UK cohortThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 2011
- Power and sensitivity of alternative fit indices in tests of measurement invariance.Journal of Applied Psychology, 2008
- Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey ReplicationArchives of General Psychiatry, 2005
- Distinct modes of ruminative self-focus: Impact of abstract versus concrete rumination on problem solving in depression.Emotion, 2005
- The Maudsley long-term follow-up of child and adolescent depressionThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 2001