The Revised Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) as an ultra-brief screening measure of bidimensional mental health in children and adolescents

The Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) is a brief, valid, and reliable international instrument for assessing mental health in adults. The aim of the present study is to examine the psychometric properties of the MHI-5 in children and adolescents. A sample of 595 students (10–15 years old) completed the MHI-5 Spanish version adapted for this study, as well as another measure of anxiety and depression symptoms, and a clinical interview as a gold standard. The overall coefficient obtained indicate good internal consistency. A unique factor solution explaining a 53.70% and a two-factor structure explaining 69.20% of the total variance were obtained. The correlations with total and subscale scores of anxiety and depression were significant. A ROC analysis showed good properties as a screening test to predict anxiety and depressive diagnoses in children and adolescents. The Revised MHI-5 presents two essential changes: a simplified 4-point response format and a new factor solution including distress and well-being. These outcomes show that the Revised MHI-5 is a brief, valid, and reliable measure to bidimensionally assess mental health and screening emotional disorders in children and adolescents.