Measuring mental health and well-being of school-children in 15 European countries using the KIDSCREEN-10 Index.
OBJECTIVE
To test the psychometric properties and measurement results of the KIDSCREEN-10 Mental Health Index in school children from 15 European countries.


METHODS
Within the cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-aged Children 2005/2006 Survey, 78,000 pupils aged 11, 13, 15 answered the KIDSCREEN and additional measures. Cronbach's alpha, Rasch partial credit model itemfit and ANOVAs were conducted.


RESULTS
Cronbach's alpha was 0.81, Rasch infit mean square residuals were 0.7-1.3. Mean scores varied 0.8 standard deviation across countries. Older pupils (effect size [ES] = 0.6), girls (ES = 0.2), pupils with low socio-economic status (ES = 0.5) or frequent health complaints (r = 0.5) reported decreased mental health.


CONCLUSIONS
The KIDSCREEN-10 displayed good psychometric properties. Measured differences between countries, age, gender, SES, and health complaints comply with theoretical considerations.
Erhart
Michael
M
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Ottova
Veronika
V
Gaspar
Tanja
T
Jericek
Helena
H
Schnohr
Christina
C
Alikasifoglu
Mujgan
M
Morgan
Antony
A
Ravens-Sieberer
Ulrike
U
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011594:Psychometrics