title: A multidimensional perspective of relations between self-concept (Self Description Questionnaire II) and adolescent mental health (Youth Self-Report).
abstract: Relations between self-concept and mental health are best understood from a multidimensional perspective. For responses by 903 adolescents (mean age = 12.6) to a new French translation of the Self Description Questionnaire II (SDQII), confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a well-defined multidimensional factor structure of reliable, highly differentiated self-concept factors. Correlations between 11 SDQII factors and 7 mental health problems (Youth Self-Report; YSR) varied substantially (.11 to -.83; mean r = -.35). Single higher-order factors could not explain relations among SDQII factors, among YSR factors, or between the SDQII and YSR factors. This highly differentiated multivariate pattern of relations supports a multidimensional perspective of self-concept, not the unidimensional perspective still prevalent in mental health research and assessment.
authors.affiliation: SELF Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, NSW, Australia. h.marsh@uws.edu.au
authors.forename: Herbert W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.forename: Roberto H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Parada
authors.forename: Violaine
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ayotte
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D011792:Quebec; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment