IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/chinre/v9y2016i2d10.1007_s12187-015-9326-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Validity and Reliability of a Brief Symptom Checklist to Measure Psychological Health in School-Aged Children

Author

Listed:
  • Genevieve Gariepy

    (McGill University)

  • Britt McKinnon

    (McGill University)

  • Mariane Sentenac

    (McGill University)

  • Frank J. Elgar

    (McGill University
    McGill University)

Abstract

The psychological health of children is a global health concern. The international Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study has surveyed the psychological health of youths in over 40 countries. The HBSC questionnaire includes a brief symptom checklist of psychological complaints, but it has not yet been validated. This study evaluated the construct validity of the psychological health self-report tool used in the HBSC study. We used data from 26,078 participants in the 2010 Canadian HBSC survey. The core HBSC questionnaire measured common psychosomatic complaints using the HBSC symptom checklist (HBSC-SCL). The Canadian survey included an additional series of questions that measure four dimensions of mental health (emotional problems, emotional well-being, behavioral problems, prosocial behavior). We used these items to evaluate the construct validity of psychological symptoms in the HBSC-SCL. We assessed internal construct validity using Cronbach’s alpha and external construct validity using factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Factor analysis showed that the HBSC-SCL measures two factors, psychological and somatic complaints. Psychological complaints included feeling low/depressed, irritable/bad tempered, nervous, and difficulties sleeping. Internal validity of the psychological subscale was good (α = 0.78). This 4-item subscale demonstrated convergent validity with indicators for emotional problems (correlation (r) = −0.79, p

Suggested Citation

  • Genevieve Gariepy & Britt McKinnon & Mariane Sentenac & Frank J. Elgar, 2016. "Validity and Reliability of a Brief Symptom Checklist to Measure Psychological Health in School-Aged Children," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(2), pages 471-484, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:9:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-015-9326-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-015-9326-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-015-9326-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12187-015-9326-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mogens Damsgaard & Bjørn Holstein & Vibeke Koushede & Katrine Madsen & Charlotte Meilstrup & Malene Nelausen & Line Nielsen & Signe Rayce, 2014. "Close relations to parents and emotional symptoms among adolescents: beyond socio-economic impact?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 59(5), pages 721-726, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michal Molcho & Aoife Gavin & Devon Goodwin, 2021. "Levels of Physical Activity and Mental Health in Adolescents in Ireland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, February.
    2. Giulia Casu & Valentina Hlebec & Licia Boccaletti & Irena Bolko & Alessandra Manattini & Elizabeth Hanson, 2021. "Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being among Adolescent Young Carers in Europe: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-23, February.
    3. Dominic Richardson & Zlata Bruckauf & Emilia Toczydlowska & Yekaterina Chzhen, 2017. "Comparing Child-focused SDGs in High-income Countries: Indicator development and overview," Papers inwopa902, Innocenti Working Papers.
    4. Yekaterina Chzhen & Zlata Bruckauf & Emilia Toczydlowska & Frank J. Elgar & Concepcion Moreno-Maldonado & Gonneke W.J.M. Stevens & Dagmar Sigmundová & Geneviève Gariépy, 2018. "Multidimensional Poverty Among Adolescents in 38 Countries: Evidence from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2013/14 Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(3), pages 729-753, June.
    5. Ann Vandendriessche & Ariane Ghekiere & Jelle Van Cauwenberg & Bart De Clercq & Karlien Dhondt & Ann DeSmet & Jorma Tynjälä & Maïté Verloigne & Benedicte Deforche, 2019. "Does Sleep Mediate the Association between School Pressure, Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Psychological Symptoms in Early Adolescents? A 12-Country Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Ji Hyeon Lee, 2020. "Neighborhood Collective Efficacy and children’s Mental Health Problems in South Korea: a Multilevel Analysis," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(1), pages 19-31, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charlotte Meilstrup & Lau Caspar Thygesen & Line Nielsen & Vibeke Koushede & Donna Cross & Bjørn Evald Holstein, 2016. "Does self-efficacy mediate the association between socioeconomic background and emotional symptoms among schoolchildren?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(4), pages 505-512, May.
    2. Marija Petrovic & Vladimir Vasic & Oliver Petrovic & Milena Santric-Milicevic, 2016. "Positive parenting attitudes and practices in three transitional Eastern European countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(5), pages 621-630, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:9:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-015-9326-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.