The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) - Child Long Version
The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) questionnaire was created by Adrian Angold and Elizabeth J. Costello in 1987 to measure depressive symptoms in children and young adults. The MFQ has multiple language translations (English, Arabic, Spanish and Norwegian), multiple length versions, and a version for parents and a version for the child. The questions were designed to capture depressive symptoms in children between the ages of 6 and 17. There are some peer-reviewed studies that have found the MFQ to be a reliable and valid measure of depression in children. However psychometric studies for its use for diagnosis, staging severity, and following treatment progress are very limited or do not exist. Scoring of the questionnaire works by summing the point values allocated to each question. Higher scores are indicative of increased depressive symptom severity. The MFQ is best used as a screening tool, as it has some psychometric studies for identifying children in early adolescence with a depressive disorder. The study demonstrated some internal consistency, moderate inter-informant agreement and good convergent validity. However, there is limited evidence to the cut of scores for each version, and their respective psychometric values, such as sensitivity and specificity.
- [1]Tavitian L, Atwi M, Bawab S, et al.: The Arabic Mood and Feelings Questionnaire: psychometrics and validity in a clinical sample.Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2014;45(3):361-368.
- [2]Costello EJ, Angold A.: Scales to assess child and adolescent depression: checklists, screens, and nets.J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1988;27(6):726-737.
- [3]Kent L, Vostanis P, Feehan C.: Detection of major and minor depression in children and adolescents: evaluation of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire.J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1997;38(5):565-573.
- [4]Daviss WB, Birmaher B, Melhem NA, Axelson DA, Michaels SM, Brent DA.: Criterion validity of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire for depressive episodes in clinic and non-clinic subjects.J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47(9):927-934.
Results
Real-time automated computation
The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) questionnaire was created by Adrian Angold and Elizabeth J. Costello in 1987 to measure depressive symptoms in children and young adults. The MFQ has multiple language translations (English, Arabic, Spanish and Norwegian), multiple length versions, and a version for parents and a version for the child. The questions were designed to capture depressive symptoms in children between the ages of 6 and 17. There are some peer-reviewed studies that have found the MFQ to be a reliable and valid measure of depression in children. However psychometric studies for its use for diagnosis, staging severity, and following treatment progress are very limited or do not exist. Scoring of the questionnaire works by summing the point values allocated to each question. Higher scores are indicative of increased depressive symptom severity. The MFQ is best used as a screening tool, as it has some psychometric studies for identifying children in early adolescence with a depressive disorder. The study demonstrated some internal consistency, moderate inter-informant agreement and good convergent validity. However, there is limited evidence to the cut of scores for each version, and their respective psychometric values, such as sensitivity and specificity.
- [1]Tavitian L, Atwi M, Bawab S, et al.: The Arabic Mood and Feelings Questionnaire: psychometrics and validity in a clinical sample.Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2014;45(3):361-368.
- [2]Costello EJ, Angold A.: Scales to assess child and adolescent depression: checklists, screens, and nets.J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1988;27(6):726-737.
- [3]Kent L, Vostanis P, Feehan C.: Detection of major and minor depression in children and adolescents: evaluation of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire.J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1997;38(5):565-573.
- [4]Daviss WB, Birmaher B, Melhem NA, Axelson DA, Michaels SM, Brent DA.: Criterion validity of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire for depressive episodes in clinic and non-clinic subjects.J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47(9):927-934.