Measuring mental health and well-being of school-children in15 European countries using the KIDSCREEN-10 Index

Objectives: To test the psychometric properties and measurement results of the KIDSCREEN-10 Mental Health Index in school children from 15 European countries. Methods: Within the cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-aged Children 2005/2006 Survey, 78,000 pupils aged 11, 13, 15 answered the KIDSCREEN and additional measures. Cronbach’s alpha, Rasch partial credit model itemfit and ANOVAs were conducted. Results: Cronbach’s alpha was 0.81, Rasch infit mean square residuals were 0.7–1.3. Mean scores varied 0.8 standard deviation across countries. Older pupils (effect size [ES] = 0.6), girls (ES = 0.2), pupils with low socio-economic status (ES = 0.5) or frequent health complaints (r = 0.5) reported decreased mental health. Conclusions: The KIDSCREEN-10 displayed good psychometric properties. Measured differences between countries, age, gender, SES, and health complaints comply with theoretical considerations.