Validation of the French version of the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire among adolescents

Teenage suicide is a major public health issue in Western societies, especially in France. An instrument to measure suicidal thoughts in French adolescents and thus identify the teenagers at risk is urgently required. The aim of this study was to validate a French version of the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ) for use with teenagers. Respondents (n=956, age range 14–18.0) completed the SIQ and other convergent measures (self-esteem, psychic morbidity, anxiety, and personality) for three validation steps (general and clinical samples). A confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the SIQ. The study supported a 30-item one-factor model, similar to the original questionnaire, with moderate model fit indices (χ2/ddl=3.21; RMSEA=0.05; CFI=0.87; GFI=0.92). Significant correlations (−0.22 to 0.74) were found with convergent measures among general (n=871) and psychiatric samples (n=38). A high internal consistency was found with a reliability coefficient of 0.91. The results confirm the psychometric qualities of the questionnaire for French adolescents.