title: Adolescent depressive symptoms in India, Australia and USA: Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling of cross-national invariance and predictions by gender and age.
abstract: The present study compares depressive symptoms in adolescents from three countries: Mumbai, India; Seattle, United States; and Melbourne, Australia measured using the Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ). The study cross nationally compares SMFQ depressive symptom responses by age and gender.
  
  
  
  Data from a cross-nationally matched survey were used to compare factorial and measurement characteristics from samples of students from Grade 7 and 9 in Mumbai, India (n=3268) with the equivalent cohorts in the Washington State, USA (n=1907) and Victoria, Australia (n=1900). Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (ESEM) was used to cross-nationally examine factor structure and measurement invariance.
  
  
  
  A number of reports suggesting that SMFQ is uni-dimensional were not supported in findings from any country. A model with two factors was a better fit and suggested a first factor clustering symptoms that were affective and physiologically based symptoms and a second factor of self-critical, cognitive symptoms. The two-factor model showed convincing cross national configural invariance and acceptable measurement invariance. The present findings revealed that adolescents in Mumbai, India, reported substantially higher depressive symptoms in both factors, but particularly for the self-critical dimension, as compared to their peers in Australia and the USA and that males in Mumbai report high levels of depressive symptoms than females in Mumbai.
  
  
  
  the cross sectional study collected data for adolescents in Melbourne and Seattle in 2002 and the data for adolescents in Mumbai was obtained in 2010-2011 CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that previous findings in developed nations of higher depressive symptoms amongst females compared to males may have an important cultural component and cannot be generalised as a universal feature of adolescent development.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Exercise Science Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia; Harry Perkins Medical Research Institute, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia. Electronic address: a.lewis@murdoch.edu.au.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Bosco
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rowland
authors.affiliation: Gatehouse Centre, Royal Children's Hospital, 50 Flemington Rd Parkville 3052, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Aiden
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Exercise Science Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia; Department of Psychology, KBP College and Institute for Child and Adolescent Health Research, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Renatti F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.affiliation: Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital Campus Melbourne, Centre for Adolescent Health, Victoria, Australia; The University of Melbourne, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: George C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Patton
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, University of Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Richard F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Toumbourou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D017677:Age Distribution; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019049:Developed Countries; D004644:Emotions; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Adolescence; Cross-national comparisons; Depression; Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (ESEM)