title: Measurement equivalence across racial/ethnic groups of the mood and feelings questionnaire for childhood depression.
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.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. My.Banh@gmail.com
authors: My K
authors: MK
authors: Banh
authors: Paul K
authors: PK
authors: Crane
authors: Isaac
authors: I
authors: Rhew
authors: Gretchen
authors: G
authors: Gudmundsen
authors: Ann Vander
authors: AV
authors: Stoep
authors: Aaron
authors: A
authors: Lyon
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: McCauley
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001741:Black or African American / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001213:Asian / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology