Measurement of mood in adolescents with intellectual disability.
A 12-item mood scale gives reliable mood data from teens with mild ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested a new 12-question mood scale called the IDMS.
They gave it to 135 teens with mild intellectual disability.
They checked if the questions hang together, match other mood tools, and stay separate from behavior checklists.
What they found
The short scale worked.
It showed good fit, lined up with longer mood tests, and did not just copy behavior scores.
How this fits with other research
Johnson et al. (1994) first showed adults with mild ID can give steady self-reports on feelings.
The new study moves that finding down to teens and gives a quicker tool.
Kooijmans et al. (2024) later showed that simpler wording helps adults understand questions better.
This supports the IDMS idea that brief, clear items work for people with ID.
Keintz et al. (2011) linked low mood to more hitting and yelling in adults with severe ID.
The IDMS now lets you catch mood early in mild teens before such problems grow.
Why it matters
You can now screen teen mood in under five minutes.
Add the 12-item IDMS to your intake packet.
Track scores every month to spot drops before they turn into behavior issues.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
To date, there has been limited research into mood responses among adolescents with intellectual disability. One reason for this is the absence of a reliable and valid measure for the assessment of mood among this population. The present study evaluated such a measure among a sample of 135 adolescents with mild intellectual disability. Results supported the factorial validity of a 12-item derivative of the Profile of Mood States, referred to as the Intellectual Disability Mood Scale (IDMS). Convergent and divergent validity was also supported. Overall, the IDMS showed encouraging psychometric characteristics as a measure of mood among adolescents with intellectual disability. It is hoped that the results of this study will stimulate further research to expand our knowledge of mood responses among this population.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2004 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2004.05.001