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Spanish Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Parent Version of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-P) in a Non-Clinical Sample of Young School-Aged Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2020

Iván Fernández-Martínez Open the ORCID record for Iván Fernández-Martínez [Opens in a new window] ,
Alexandra Morales ,
Francisco Xavier Méndez ,
José Pedro Espada  and
Mireia Orgilés
Iván Fernández-Martínez*
Affiliation:
Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (Spain)
Alexandra Morales
Affiliation:
Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (Spain)
Francisco Xavier Méndez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Murcia (Spain)
José Pedro Espada
Affiliation:
Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (Spain)
Mireia Orgilés
Affiliation:
Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Iván Fernández-Martínez. Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernández University of Elche. Av. de la Universidad s/n. 03202 Elche, Alicante (Spain). E-mail: i.fernandez@umh.es
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Abstract

The parent version of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-P) is a brief 13-item tool for the screening of depression in children from the age of 6 years. Despite the wide use of the SMFQ-P, its psychometric properties and factor structure remain understudied, with few data available for young school-aged children. The objective of this study was to examine for the first time the factorial structure and psychometric properties of the SMFQ-P in a non-clinical sample of Spanish-speaking children aged 6–8 years. Participants were 181 children whose parents completed the Spanish-adapted version of the SMFQ-P along with the parent version of other measures of anxiety and general difficulties and positive attributes. The SMFQ-P demonstrated adequate internal consistency (α = .83) and test-retest reliability over an eight-week period (ICC = .80), and good convergent and divergent validity. Factor analysis confirmed the original 13-item model, thus supporting the unidimensionality of the measure in the Spanish sample. Overall, this study provides initial empirical evidence for the utility of the SMFQ-P with Spanish-speaking children from early school ages, and extends the international support of the measure.

Keywords

assessmentdepressionparent reportShort Mood and Feelings QuestionnaireSpanish validation
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 23 , 2020 , e45
Copyright
© Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2020

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Footnotes

Conflicts of Interest: None

Funding Statement: This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Spain [IFM, grant number FPU14/03900]; and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) of Spain [MO, grant number PSI2014-56446-P].

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