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

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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 < 0.001) and emotional well-being (r = 0.48, p < 0.001), and discriminant validity with indicators for behavioral problems (r = −0.17, p < 0.001) and prosocial behavior (r = 0.02, p < 0.001). Results support the HBSC-SCL psychological subscale as a valid measure of psychological health in school-aged children. Future research is recommended to replicate findings in other youth populations.

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Abbreviations

α:

Cronbach’s alpha

β:

Regression coefficient

CD:

Coefficient of determination

CFI:

Comparative fit index

HBSC:

Health behavior in school-aged children

HBSC-SCL:

Health behavior in school-aged children symptom checklist

r:

Pearson correlation coefficient

RMSEA:

Root mean square error of approximation

SEM:

Structural equation modelling

SMRM:

Standardized root mean square residual

TLI:

Tucker–Lewis index

WHO:

World health organization

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by funding provided by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study is a WHO/Euro collaborative study and funded by public sources in each member country. The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children International Coordinating Centre is located at St Andrew’s University, and the databank is managed at the University of Bergen. The Canadian HBSC study (Principal Investigators: John Freeman, William Pickett; National Coordinator: Matthew King) was funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, with additional support from Health Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Health and Social Policy, McGill University, 1130 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, QC, H3A 1A3, Canada

    Genevieve Gariepy, Britt McKinnon, Mariane Sentenac & Frank J. Elgar

  2. Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Frank J. Elgar

Authors
  1. Genevieve Gariepy
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  2. Britt McKinnon
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  3. Mariane Sentenac
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  4. Frank J. Elgar
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Correspondence to Genevieve Gariepy.

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Gariepy, G., McKinnon, B., Sentenac, M. et al. Validity and Reliability of a Brief Symptom Checklist to Measure Psychological Health in School-Aged Children. Child Ind Res 9, 471–484 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-015-9326-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-015-9326-2

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