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Parental mental health and reporting of their child’s behaviour: measurement invariance of the French version of the parental strengths and difficulties questionnaire

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Abstract

Symptomatic effects of mental disorders in parents could bias their reporting on their child’s mental health. This study aimed to investigate the measurement invariance of the French version of the parental Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) across parental mental health in a sample (N = 20,765) of parents of children aged 3 to 17 years in France. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (ESEM) were used to evaluate the fit of three known alternative SDQ factor structures (five, three, or second-order factor structures). Invariance was tested across parental mental health (present anxiety and depressive symptoms, psychiatric history) and across socio-demographic characteristics (child's age, child's gender, parent's gender, parent's educational level). CFA models showed a poor fit, while all ESEM models achieved acceptable or good fit, with the five-factor model presenting the best fit. Invariance was observed for all characteristics tested, indicating that the SDQ can be used to study the links between parental mental health and their child's mental health without bias. However, ESEM showed that the hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems dimensions were not well differentiated in the French version of the SDQ.

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Acknowledgements

EpiCoV Study Group: Josiane Warszawski (co-principal investigator), Nathalie Bajos (co-principal investigator), Guillaume Bagein, Vianney Costemalle, Emilie Counil, Thomas Deroyon, Florence Jusot, Laurence Meyer, Philippe Raynaud, Alexandra Rouquette, Ariane Pailhé, Delphine Rahib, Patrick Sillard, Alexis Spire, Josiane Warszawski, Nathalie Bajos, Guillaume Bagein, Vianney Costemalle, Emilie Counil, Thomas Deroyon, Florence Jusot, Laurence Meyer, Philippe Raynaud, Alexandra Rouquette, Ariane Pailhé, Delphine Rahib, Patrick Sillard, Alexis Spire

Funding

This study is part of the EpiCoV cohort, which was funded by the Institut National de la SantÉ et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), the Direction de la Recherche, des Études, de l'Évaluation et des Statistiques (DREES), the French ministry of research and the Île de France region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UVSQ, Inserm, CESP, Université Paris-Saclay, 94807, Villejuif, France

    Arnaud Sapin, Arthur Descarpentry, Cécile Vuillermoz, Bruno Falissard, Josiane Warszawski, Camille Davisse-Paturet & Alexandra Rouquette

  2. Health Technology Assessment Department, Haute Autorité de Santé, 93210, La Plaine Saint-Denis, France

    Antoine Vanier

  3. UMR 1246 Sphere, Inserm, Nantes Université - Université de Tours, 44200, Nantes, France

    Antoine Vanier

  4. Research Team on Social Epidemiology (ERES), Sorbonne Université, INSERM, Institut Pierre Louis d’Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, IPLESP, 75012, Paris, France

    Gustave Maffre Maviel

  5. Inserm, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, Université de Bordeaux, 33077, Bordeaux, France

    Cédric Galera

  6. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre Hospitalier Charles Perrens, 33000, Bordeaux, France

    Bruno Falissard & Cédric Galera

  7. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, APHP, Paris-Saclay University, 94270, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France

    Josiane Warszawski & Alexandra Rouquette

  8. Statistics Direction of French Ministry of Health and Solidarity (DREES), Paris, France

    Jean-Baptiste Hazo

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  1. Arnaud Sapin
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  2. Antoine Vanier
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  3. Arthur Descarpentry
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  4. Gustave Maffre Maviel
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The EpiCoV Study Group

Contributions

AS conducted the data management and the analysis, supervised by AR, AV and J-BH. AS wrote the main manuscript text. Redactional and methodological support was provided by AV, AD, GM-M, CV, CG, CD-P, J-BH and AR. BF, AR and JW provided overall supervision. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arnaud Sapin.

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The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

The members of the EpiCoV Study Group are mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

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Sapin, A., Vanier, A., Descarpentry, A. et al. Parental mental health and reporting of their child’s behaviour: measurement invariance of the French version of the parental strengths and difficulties questionnaire. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-024-02392-z

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