Ecuadorian Validation of the Parent Version of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-P) for Children Aged 8 to 12 Years

The Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) is a screening tool to assess depressive symptoms in childhood. The aim of this study is to examine the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the parent version of the SMFQ in a sample of Ecuadorian parents and their children. The sample consisted of 276 Ecuadorian children aged 8 to 12 years (M = 9.37; SD = 1.36), of whom 59.06 % were between 8 and 9 years old and 40.94 % were between 10 and 12 years old. The gender distribution was 45.29 % girls and 54.71 % boys. The primary informants were mothers (87 %, n = 240), the majority of whom were between 35 and 44 years old, and married (72.1 %). Participants completed the SMFQ-P to assess depressive symptoms, as well as the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale-Short Version (SCAS) to examine anxiety symptoms. The results of the factorial analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the SMFQ-P. Additionally, the SMFQ-P demonstrated adequate internal consistency (α = 0.94) and evidence of convergent validity (r = 0.67) with the SCAS, and strict factorial invariance. A positive correlation was found between the SMFQ-P and children’s age, suggesting that depressive symptoms increase as children grow older. In conclusion, this study provides evidence supporting the utility of the SMFQ-P questionnaire for evaluating depression in Ecuadorian children.