Wood, A., Kroll, L., Moore, A., & Harrington, R. (1995). Properties of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire in adolescent psychiatric outpatients: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36(2), 327-334.
Sample:
Participants — 104 adolescent outpatients
Race/Ethnicity — Not given
Summary:
The study examined the psychometric properties of the Mood and Feelings
Questionnaire (MFQ) in 104 adolescent outpatients attending a psychiatric clinic for treatment of depressive disorders. Both the child and parent versions of the MFQ had high internal consistency. Children reported more symptoms than their parents did about them. Analyses showed that the MFQ-Child had moderate diagnostic accuracy for major depression at interview, whereas the MFQ-Parent had only low accuracy. It was also a useful measure of clinical remission.
Kent, L., Vostanis, P., & Feehan, C. (1997). Detection of major and minor depression in children and adolescents: Evaluation of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire. Journal of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, 38(5), 565-573.
Sample:
Participants — 113 outpatient children
Race/Ethnicity — Not given for total sample. Study gives weighted percentages
dispersed in seven individual group clusters.
Summary:
The detection of major and minor depression in children and adolescents was evaluated in an outpatient sample of 113 children employing the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (both child and parent versions) and the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS). Differences between depressed and nondepressed groups, those with major or minor depression, and depressed children compared with those comorbid for anxiety, were examined. Findings support the validity of the MFQ as a screening instrument for major and minor depression in a population with a high proportion of depressed cases. High agreement between parent and child ratings was found, with cognitive items being the best predictors of depression.
Daviss, W. B., Birmaher, B., Melhem, N. A., Axelson, D. A., Michaels, S. M., & Brent, D. A. (2006). Criterion validity of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire for depressive episodes in clinic and non-clinic subjects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(9), 927-934.
Sample:
Participants — 470 youth
Race/Ethnicity — White (n=390) and Nonwhite (n=80)
Summary:
Among 470 consecutive youth completing semi-structured interviews at a university-based child psychiatry center, total scores from the 33-item MFQ-Child and 34-item MFQ-Parent were examined across subjects with and without mood disorders various analyses. Statistically significant differences were found in mean scores of the MFQ-C and MFQ-P across youth having major depressive episodes (MDE), mood disorders not meeting criteria for current MDE, and no mood disorders. In the overall sample, areas under the curve for discriminating MDE and any mood disorder suggested moderate to high criterion validity. Scores from the MFQ-C and MFQ-P in the overall sample correlated strongly with each other. The MFQ-C and MFQ-P, especially used in combination, validly identify MDE or other mood disorders in youth diverse in demographic and clinical characteristics.
Sund, A. M., Larsson, B., & Wichstrøm, L. (2001). Depressive symptoms among young Norwegian adolescents as measured by the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ). European child & adolescent psychiatry, 10(4), 222-229.
Sample:
Participants — 2560 13- to 14-year-old Norwegian girls and boys
Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified
Summary:
This study examined the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) in a sample of Norwegian adolescents. The MFQ showed a good internal consistency (α), and test-retest correlations (r) for three-week and three-month intervals were 0.84 and 0.80 respectively. Convergent and discriminative validity were also assessed. The mean total MFQ score for the whole sample was 10.6 (SD 9.5). The results showed a significant sex by age interaction effect in that girls increased their mean total MFQ sum score by age while the boys' scores decreased slightly.
Hammerton, G., Zammit, S., Potter, R., Thapar, A., & Collishaw, S. (2014). Validation of a composite of suicide items from the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) in offspring of recurrently depressed parents. Psychiatry research, 216(1), 82-88.
Sample:
Participants — 337 (315 mothers and 22 fathers)
Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified
Summary:
The main aim of this study was to examine the concurrent and predictive validity of a composite of four Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) items related to suicidal ideation using an interview measure of suicidal ideation. A parent–child combined MFQ-SI subscale performed well as a screening tool against the interview measure of suicidal ideation (baseline area under the curve (AUC) (95%CI):0.92(0.85–1.00). Longitudinally, this measure showed reasonable predictive validity against future suicidal ideation (AUC (95%CI):0.73(0.58–0.88)). Lastly, there was evidence that a child-rated MFQ-SI scale performed better than a parent-rated one in detecting concurrent suicidal ideation. Longitudinally, both parent and child scales showed reasonable predictive validity against future suicidal ideation.
