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Measurement Equivalence Across Racial/Ethnic Groups of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire for Childhood Depression

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Abstract

As research continues to document differences in the prevalence of mental health problems such as depression across racial/ethnic groups, the issue of measurement equivalence becomes increasingly important to address. The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) is a widely used screening tool for child and adolescent depression. This study applied a differential item functioning (DIF) framework to data from a sample of 6th and 8th grade students in the Seattle Public School District (N = 3,593) to investigate the measurement equivalence of the MFQ. Several items in the MFQ were found to have DIF, but this DIF was associated with negligible individual- or group-level impact. These results suggest that differences in MFQ scores across groups are unlikely to be caused by measurement non-equivalence.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    My K. Banh, Gretchen Gudmundsen, Ann Vander Stoep, Aaron Lyon & Elizabeth McCauley

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Paul K. Crane

  3. Social Development Research Group, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Isaac Rhew

  4. Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA, USA

    Gretchen Gudmundsen & Elizabeth McCauley

  5. Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Ann Vander Stoep

  6. Center for Child and Human Development, Georgetown University, 3300 Whitehaven Street, NW, Suite 3300, Washington, DC, 20007, USA

    My K. Banh

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA

    My K. Banh

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  1. My K. Banh
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  2. Paul K. Crane
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Correspondence to My K. Banh.

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Banh, M.K., Crane, P.K., Rhew, I. et al. Measurement Equivalence Across Racial/Ethnic Groups of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire for Childhood Depression. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40, 353–367 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9569-4

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