Mood and Feelings Questionnaire: Parent Report (MFQ-Parent)

Abstract

The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire: Parent Report (MFQ-Parent), specifically the Short Version, is a concise and highly regarded psychological scale designed for screening and assessing depressive symptomatology in youth. This 13-item measure is administered to the parent or primary caregiver, who reports on the child’s behaviors and emotional state over the preceding two weeks. Developed for use in epidemiological studies, the MFQ-Parent provides a quick, reliable snapshot of potential clinical depression in children and adolescents.

Keywords

Mood and Feelings Questionnaire, MFQ-P, child mental health, adolescent depression, screening tool, parent report, depressive symptomatology, clinical assessment, psychological scale

Authors

Angold, A., Costello, E. J., Messer, S. C., Pickles, A., Winder, F., Silver, D.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the MFQ-Parent is to provide an efficient and reliable method for parents to report on recent signs of depression in their children or adolescents. It serves as a valuable screening instrument in both research settings, such as large-scale epidemiological studies, and clinical environments where rapid assessment of mood disturbance is necessary.

The scale aids clinicians and researchers in quantifying the severity of depressive symptoms observed by the caregiver, thereby contributing to preliminary diagnostic decisions or tracking symptom changes over time. Its brevity (13 items) ensures minimal burden on the respondent while maintaining strong psychometric properties necessary for accurate measurement.

Construct

The MFQ-Parent measures the psychological construct of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or related depressive symptoms, as defined by established diagnostic criteria. The items cover core features of depression observed in youth, including anhedonia (lack of enjoyment), low mood, fatigue, self-deprecation, and cognitive difficulties like poor concentration.

By focusing on observable behaviors and reported emotional states over a recent fixed period (the past two weeks), the scale captures the acute presentation of clinical depression. The design supports the hypothesis that these specific symptoms cluster together to represent a single, underlying mood disorder construct.

Validity

The MFQ-Parent demonstrates robust convergent validity, showing strong correlations with established measures of child depression, such as the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC). This indicates that the MFQ-Parent effectively measures the same construct as these more comprehensive instruments.

Furthermore, the scale exhibits strong criterion validity by its ability to accurately discriminate between clinically depressed and non-depressed children. Research by Rhew et al. (2010), involving a sample of 521 sixth-grade students, confirmed that the MFQ-P was moderately accurate in distinguishing between these two groups. Notably, combining the scores from the MFQ-Parent with the child’s self-report version significantly enhances the overall depression status discrimination compared to using either measure in isolation.

Reliability

The MFQ-Parent possesses high internal consistency, a key indicator of reliability, suggesting that all 13 items consistently measure the same underlying construct of depression. This high internal consistency supports the scale’s use as a cohesive measure of symptom severity.

Factor Analysis

Factor analysis studies of the MFQ-Parent typically support a unidimensional factor structure. This finding confirms that the scale primarily measures a single dimension—the severity of depressive symptomatology—rather than multiple, separate sub-constructs of mood disorder. This structure is essential for a short screening tool intended to provide a singular summary score for clinical risk.

Instrument

Test Type: Screening Questionnaire / Symptom Severity Scale

Format: Parent-rated Questionnaire (Likert-type scale)

Language Available: English (and various translations are available based on international usage, though not specified in the original source)

Population Group: Children and Adolescents

Age Group: 6 to 17 years

Population Details: Used in both community/non-depressed samples (e.g., Rhew et al. 2010 non-depressed sample n=476) and clinically depressed populations.

Test Methodology: Parents respond to 13 items based on their child’s feelings and actions in the past two weeks, utilizing a 3-point rating scale (Not True, Sometimes, True).

Scoring and Interpretation

Scoring for the MFQ-Parent uses a simple summation of item responses. Each item is scored 0 (Not True), 1 (Sometimes), or 2 (True). The total scores range from 0 to 26. Higher scores correlate directly with a greater severity of depressive symptomatology observed in the child.

For clinical interpretation, specific cut-off scores have been established through validation studies. Thapar and McGuffin (1998) identified a critical cut-off score of 11. A child receiving a total rating of 11 or higher from their parent on the MFQ-P is considered likely to meet criteria for clinical depression, requiring further diagnostic evaluation. Scores can also be analyzed using percentile ranks to compare the child’s results against those obtained from samples of both depressed and non-depressed peers.

Keywords

psychometric testing, epidemiological study, clinical cut-off, parent-child relationship, psychological assessment, CDI, DISC, internal consistency

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) is generally available for non-commercial research and clinical use, often without charge, subject to obtaining permission from the developers at Duke University. The initial development and core reference for the short version of the scale were published in 1995 by Angold et al.

References

Angold, A., Costello, E. J., Messer, S. C., Pickles, A., Winder, F., & Silver, D. (1995). The development of a short questionnaire for use in epidemiological studies of depression in children and adolescents. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 5, 237 – 249.

Rhew I., Simpson K., Tracy M., Lymp J., McCauley E., Tsuang D. & Stoep A.V. (2010). Criterion validity of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire and one- and two-item depression screens in young adolescents. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 4:8.

Thapar, A., & McGuffin, P. (1998). Validity of the shortened mood and feelings questionnaire in a community sample of children and adolescents: A preliminary research note. Psychiatry Research, 81(2), 259-268. doi:10.1016/S0165-1781(98)00073-0

Additional information and a list of publications with differing clinical cut-offs can be found here. The original PDF can be downloaded here: https://devepi.duhs.duke.edu/.instrumentsMFQ user.pdf

Items of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire: Parent Report (MFQ-Parent)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

These questions are about how your child might have been feeling or acting recently. For each question, please check how s/he has been feeling or acting in the past two weeks.

• If a sentence was not true about your child, check NOT TRUE.
• If a sentence was only sometimes true, check SOMETIMES.
• If a sentence was true about your child most of the time, check TRUE.