A multidimensional perspective of relations between self-concept (Self Description Questionnaire II) and adolescent mental health (Youth Self-Report).

Journal article

Relations between self-concept and mental health are best understood from a multidimensional perspective. For responses by 903 adolescents (mean age = 12.6) to a new French translation of the Self Description Questionnaire II (SDQII), confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a well-defined multidimensional factor structure of reliable, highly differentiated self-concept factors. Correlations between 11 SDQII factors and 7 mental health problems (Youth Self-Report; YSR) varied substantially (.11 to -.83; mean r = -.35). Single higher-order factors could not explain relations among SDQII factors, among YSR factors, or between the SDQII and YSR factors. This highly differentiated multivariate pattern of relations supports a multidimensional perspective of self-concept, not the unidimensional perspective still prevalent in mental health research and assessment.

Authors: Marsh, H; Parada, R; Ayotte, V

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Psychological assessment
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 27-41
• Publication date: 2004-03-01
• DOI: 10.1037/1040-3590.16.1.27
• EISSN: 1939-134X
• ISSN: 1040-3590
• Language: English
• Keywords: Female; Psychosocial Deprivation; Child; Self-Assessment; Personality Inventory; Self Concept; Adolescent Psychology; Mental Health; Poverty; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Humans; Male; Quebec; Adolescent