Self-reported strengths and difficulties in a community sample of Finnish adolescents

The psychometric properties of the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) among Finnish 13- to 17-year-old adolescents (n = 1,458) were studied. The results show that the psychometric properties of the Finnish SDQ self-report were adequate. The results of the correlation analysis confirmed the postulated structure of the SDQ self-report. The correlations of the items to their respective subscales ranged from moderate to high (r = 0.47–0.73). The internal consistency was acceptable on three and somewhat lower on two of the five subscales (alpha = 0.53–0.71). In addition, the factor analysis sufficiently confirmed the postulated structure of the SDQ for girls and boys, except for the conduct problems scale of boys, which was fused with emotional symptoms and with hyperactivity. The means of the SDQ self-report total difficulties scores were very similar to those in a previous study in Great Britain. The results provide additional confirmation of the usefulness of the SDQ as a screening instrument in epidemiological research and clinical practice. Accepted: 12 January 2001     

Validation of a questionnaire to measure mastery motivation among Chinese preschool children

The aim of this study was to validate a questionnaire on mastery motivation (task and effort) for use with Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. A parent version and a teacher version were developed and evaluated. Participants included 457 children (230 boys and 227 girls) aged four and five years old, their preschool teachers and their parents. Further, 44 children (39 boys and 5 girls) with developmental disabilities were recruited. The children were assessed on the cognitive sub-test of the Preschool Development Assessment Scale (PDAS). Their parents completed the task and effort motivation scales, as well as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Their teachers also completed the task and effort motivation scales. Rasch analysis results provided support for the unidimensionality of the parent and teacher versions of the two motivation scales. The parent and teacher versions of the two motivation scales correlated positively with the PDAS cognitive sub-test and the SDQ prosocial scale scores, and negatively with the SDQ total problem behavior scores. Children with developmental disabilities were assigned lower scores by their teachers and parents on the two motivation scales, compared with children with typical development. Reliability (Cronbach's Alpha) of the parent and teacher versions of the two motivation scales were above .70. The results suggested that the task and effort motivation scales were promising instruments for the assessment of motivation among Chinese preschool children.     

Validation of a questionnaire on behaviour academic competence among Chinese preschool children

The aim of this study was to validate a questionnaire on academic competence behaviour for use with Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. A parent version and a teacher version were developed and evaluated. The participants included 457 children (230 boys and 227 girls) aged four and five years old, their preschool teachers and their parents. Besides, 44 children (39 boys and 5 girls) with developmental disabilities were recruited. The children were assessed on the cognitive domain of the Preschool Development Assessment Scale (PDAS). Their parents completed a questionnaire on academic competence behaviour, as well as the Strength and Difficulty Scale (SDQ). Their teachers completed the questionnaire on academic competence behaviour. Rasch analysis results provided support for the unidimensionality of the parent and teacher versions of the scale, with one item deleted. The parent and teacher versions of the revised scale correlated positively with the cognitive domain of the PDAS and the prosocial scale of the SDQ and negatively with SDQ total problem behaviour score. Children with developmental delay were assigned lower scores by their parents and teachers, compared with preschool children, on the revised versions of the academic competence behaviour scale. Reliability estimates (Cronbach's alpha) of the parent and teacher versions of this revised scale were above .80. The results suggested that the two versions of academic competence behaviour scales were promising instruments for the assessment of academic competence behaviour among Chinese preschool children.     

Validation of a questionnaire to measure mastery motivation among Chinese preschool children

The aim of this study was to validate a questionnaire on mastery motivation (task and effort) for use with Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. A parent version and a teacher version were developed and evaluated. Participants included 457 children (230 boys and 227 girls) aged four and five years old, their preschool teachers and their parents. Further, 44 children (39 boys and 5 girls) with developmental disabilities were recruited. The children were assessed on the cognitive sub-test of the Preschool Development Assessment Scale (PDAS). Their parents completed the task and effort motivation scales, as well as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Their teachers also completed the task and effort motivation scales. Rasch analysis results provided support for the unidimensionality of the parent and teacher versions of the two motivation scales. The parent and teacher versions of the two motivation scales correlated positively with the PDAS cognitive sub-test and the SDQ prosocial scale scores, and negatively with the SDQ total problem behavior scores. Children with developmental disabilities were assigned lower scores by their teachers and parents on the two motivation scales, compared with children with typical development. Reliability (Cronbach's Alpha) of the parent and teacher versions of the two motivation scales were above .70. The results suggested that the task and effort motivation scales were promising instruments for the assessment of motivation among Chinese preschool children.     

Father's Involvement and Psychological Adjustment in Indian and White British Secondary School Age Children

Background:  The study aimed to explore the relationship between father's involvement and psychological adjustment in Indian and White British secondary school age children.
Method:  Psychological adjustment in the 360 White British and 222 Indian children of the study was measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). All children lived in biological two-parent families and attended the same secondary school in South England.
Results:  Indian girls and White British girls reported similar levels of adjustment and father's involvement, although compared to White British boys Indian boys reported both lower total difficulties scores and higher prosocial behaviour scores, as well as higher levels of father's involvement. Multiple regression analyses showed that even after controlling for age, sibship size, family's socio-economic status, and inter-parental conflict, father's involvement was positively associated with prosocial behaviour in both genders in both ethnic groups. Father's involvement was not related to Indian boys' or girls' difficulties. However, in White British boys father's involvement was negatively related to peer problems, whereas in White British girls father's involvement was negatively related to total difficulties, conduct problems, and peer problems.
Conclusions:  There would be merit in future studies extending our knowledge about differences in the relationship between father's involvement and child outcomes.     

上海市松江区中小学生长处和困难问卷调查分析

目的 通过对上海市松江区中小学生长处和困难问卷（SDQ）（父母版）调查,探讨松江区中小学存在的心理行为问题.方法 采用分层整群随机抽样,抽取了上海市松江区5所中小学1 739名学生进行长处和困难问卷（SDQ）（父母版）的调查,所得的数据进行性别和年龄的差异比较.结果 调查数据显示松江区中小学生≤11岁年龄段的学生在情绪问题、多动注意不能、总分得分均显著高于＞11岁年龄段学生（P＜0.01）.男生在行为问题、多动注意不能、总分得分显著高于女生;女生在亲社会行为得分显著高于男生.结论 长处和困难问卷（SDQ）（父母版）适用于上海市松江区中小学生的心理行为问题的发现,在儿童青少年的心理发展敏感期,老师和家长应加以关注.     

长处与困难问卷（父母版）在中国8个省份22,108名小学生中的调查结果

背景：我国儿童心理问题不断增多,因此能够有效评估儿童行为和情绪问题的筛选工具对于促进我国儿童身心健康和预防儿童精神疾病有重要的意义。 目的：在来源于中国不同地区城市和农村的大样本儿童中对国际公认的长处和困难问卷（SDQ）中文版的使用进行评估,包括情绪症状、品行问题、多动/注意缺陷、同伴交往问题和亲社会行为。 方法：采用分层随机抽样选取8省份22,108名小学生（年龄在5岁至13岁）的法定监护人（父母为主）进行SDQ（父母版）中文版问卷调查。本研究评估了SDQ评分与社会人口学特征之间的关联性,并比较了中国与日本和英国在“异常”,“临界”和“正常”标准的百分位划界分。 结果：SDQ（父母版）5个分量表中有4个内部一致性尚可,但是“同伴关系问题”分量表则较差（alpha=0.22）。监护人反映男孩比女孩的多动/注意力缺陷问题更多,而女孩比男孩的情感症状问题突出。男孩和女孩的多动/注意力缺陷问题都会随着年龄的增长而减少,而同伴交往问题随着年龄增长而增多。农村地区和监护人不是父母（即祖父母或其他亲属）的孩子中,情绪症状、品行问题和同伴交往问题较为普遍。中国儿童中判定为“异常”的90%百分位划界分（19-40）要高于日本和英国报道的儿童划界分。 讨论：此项研究提示,对男孩的多动/注意缺陷问题应在10岁之前开始预防,并且在青春期早期就要开始训练如何减轻与同伴交往带来的压力。进一步的研究需要注重于提高SDQ在中国文化背景下的信效度,并确定SDQ对于识别孩子是否需要心理健康服务的敏感性和特异性。     

The use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Southern European countries

This paper reports a selection of completed or ongoing studies that have evaluated or applied the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in five countries of Southern Europe: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, and France. In Italy, the SDQ has been used to study its concurrent validity with other norm-based instruments (Child Behavior Checklist-CBCL and Disruptive Behavior Disorder Rating Scale-DBDRS), to assess the efficacy of a behavioural school training, and as part of an epidemiological study. In Spain, the SDQ was used to analyse the association between respiratory and other behavioural problems. In Portugal and Croatia, psychometric properties of the three versions of the SDQ (parent, teacher, and self-reports) were investigated in samples of children ranging from 5 to 16 years. Past and ongoing studies in France have administered the SDQ to estimate inter-rater agreement between parents, teachers, and pupils, to carry out a large-scale epidemiological study, and to evaluate the efficacy of a parent training programme. In a second section, scale means obtained with the teacher version of the SDQ in three community-based samples of 7-8 year-old children from Italy, Portugal, and Spain are compared. The results show that, according to their teachers' ratings, Italian pupils showed less prosocial behaviour than their Spanish and Portuguese agemates, whereas the Portuguese children were rated as being more hyperactive and inattentive than comparable Italian and Spanish children. Possible causes underlying the observed differences between national SDQ means are discussed.     

Normative data and psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire among Japanese school-aged children

Background

Although child mental health problems are among the most important worldwide issues, development of culturally acceptable mental health services to serve the clinical needs of children and their families is especially lacking in regions outside Europe and North America. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which was developed in the United Kingdom and is now one of the most widely used measurement tools for screening child psychiatric symptoms, has been translated into Japanese, but culturally calibrated norms for Japanese schoolchildren have yet to be established. To this end, we examined the applicability of the Japanese versions of the parent and teacher SDQs by establishing norms and extending validation of its psychometric properties to a large nationwide sample, as well as to a smaller clinical sample.

Methods

The Japanese versions of the SDQ were completed by parents and teachers of schoolchildren aged 7 to 15 years attending mainstream classes in primary or secondary schools in Japan. Data were analyzed to describe the population distribution and gender/age effects by informant, cut-off scores according to banding, factor structure, cross-scale correlations, and internal consistency for 24,519 parent ratings and 7,977 teacher ratings from a large nationwide sample. Inter-rater and test-retest reliabilities and convergent and divergent validities were confirmed for a smaller validation sample (total n?=?128) consisting of a clinical sample with any mental disorder and community children without any diagnoses.

Results

Means, standard deviations, and banding of normative data for this Japanese child population were obtained. Gender/age effects were significant for both parent and teacher ratings. The original five-factor structure was replicated, and strong cross-scale correlations and internal reliability were shown across all SDQ subscales for this population. Inter-rater agreement was satisfactory, test-retest reliability was excellent, and convergent and divergent validities were satisfactory for the validation sample, with some differences between informants.

Conclusions

This study provides evidence that the Japanese version of the SDQ is a useful instrument for parents and teachers as well as for research purposes. Our findings also emphasize the importance of establishing culturally calibrated norms and boundaries for the instrument’s use.     

Problem behaviours in early primary school children: Australian normative data using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

OBJECTIVE: This study provides normative and clinical levels of problem behaviours from a large community sample of Australian early primary school children. METHOD: From a large community sample (n = 1928) of children aged 5 to 10 years (mean = 7.70, SD = 0.89) normative data are provided using the teacher-reported version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). A response rate of 88% ensures the data are representative. RESULTS: Mean scores on total difficulties between this Australian sample and UK norms were comparable. Some differences in the clinical cut-off scores are evident in the Australian sample, and adjusted clinical cut-offs are provided. Australian teacher reports of problem behaviour revealed lower clinical levels of emotional problems. Boys had significantly greater problems than girls on the Conduct, Hyperactivity, Peer and Prosocial scales. Overall, 5.3% of boys had scores in the clinical range on four of the five subscales. Comparisons of the factor structure revealed that for boys the Peer scale has two interpretations, with two items loading with Conduct problems and associated with greater problem behaviours. For girls, conduct problems are more strongly associated with poorer prosocial skills. CONCLUSIONS: Teachers are able to provide valuable predictive information on externalizing behaviours. Australian normative comparisons reveal minor variations in teacher interpretation of items. The present data is representative of the Australian community and should be used to assess behaviour difficulties in early primary school children. Future studies on older age children are required to understand the developmental progression of problem behaviours in the community.     

Psychiatric symptoms in Norwegian children with epilepsy aged 8–13 years: Effects of age and gender?

Purpose: In this population‐based study we wanted to assess the prevalence and impact of psychiatric symptoms in children with epilepsy compared to controls, and investigate possible age and gender differences. Methods: Data were collected using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire‐Parent report (SDQ‐P) as part of a more extensive questionnaire. A total of 14,699 parents of children aged 8–13 years (response rate 78%) participated. Associations between SDQ scores and epilepsy, other chronic disease, age, gender, and socioeconomic factors were explored using logistic regression analysis. Key Findings: Children with epilepsy (CWE) (n = 110) had a significantly higher frequency of psychiatric symptoms (37.8% vs. 17.0% in controls, p < 0.001). Gender differences were found in several subscales of the SDQ; girls had more emotional problems, whereas boys had higher scores regarding peer relationship and hyperactivity/inattention problems. Male gender, low socioeconomic status (family income below poverty limit and living in a single parent home), and other chronic disease (asthma/diabetes) were independent risk factors of developing psychiatric symptoms, along with epilepsy. Having or having had epilepsy was, however, a much stronger risk factor for developing psychiatric symptoms in girls than in boys [odds ratio (OR) 4.2 vs. OR 2.3]. A minor effect of age was seen only in girls with epilepsy, with an increased risk of psychiatric symptoms in age group 10–13 years (OR 1.28 for scoring borderline/abnormal on SDQ‐total difficulties). Borderline/abnormal impact scores were found in 31.8% of CWE compared with 13.0% of controls (p < 0.001). Significance: Multiple risk factors contribute to the high prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in CWE, perhaps differently in boys and girls. Awareness of this complex interaction may help target intervention toward high risk groups and thus prevent more serious problems from arising.     

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a screening instrument in a community sample of high school seniors in Sweden

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been used among Swedish children since 1996, usually the parent or the teacher version. The self-report version was originally developed for children aged 11-16 years. The aim of this study was to investigate the application of the Swedish self-report version to a representative sample of 1015 senior high school students aged 17-19 years. Girls reported more emotional symptoms and scored higher on prosocial items than boys. Boys on the other hand scored higher on both conduct and peer problems. The means were similar to means in two Nordic studies that have included subjects of this age group. A confirmatory five-factor analyses explained 44.5% of the variance with a good fit for all subjects and boys but somewhat weaker for girls. The item-subscale correlation (ISC) ranged from moderate to high (r=0.47-0.76) and the Cronbach's alpha was 0.74 (ranging in the five subscales 0.50-0.70). The SDQ seems to be useful even in this older age group. The psychometric qualities were acceptable but can probably be improved by changing the oppositely worded questions and by considering development of different questionnaires for boys and girls at least in late adolescence.     

西安市中小学生长处和困难问卷(家长版)调查

目的 通过对西安市中小学生进行长处和困难问卷(家长版)调查,探讨西安地区中小学生存在的心理行为问题.方法 采用分层整群随机抽样,对西安市2个区的6所中小学3 592名学生进行长处和困难问卷(家长版)的调查,所得数据进行了性别和年龄差异的比较,并且与上海地区报道常模进行对比.结果 调查数据显示西安中小学生的“行为”、“多动注意不能”、“同伴交往”和“困难总分”这四个因子,男生得分高于女生(P＜0.05);而“亲社会行为”因子则主要是女生得分高于男生(P＜0.05);“情绪”因子中,男生与女生年龄段得分高低趋于平均化(P＞0.05).但总体趋势是随着年龄的增长,各因子得分降低.所得数据与上海地区常模比较发现:行为、社会行为和情绪得分均高于常模组相应因子得分,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05).结论 长处和困难问卷(家长版)适合于西安市中小学生的心理行为问题的发现,并且不同地区的中小学生心理行为问题具有不同的特点.     

Gender as a Moderator of the Relationship between Child Exposure to the World Trade Centre Disaster and Behavioural Outcomes

Objectives:  This study examined the moderating effect of gender on the relationship of child exposure to the World Trade Centre (WTC) disaster and child behavioural difficulties among a sample of very young children who resided in New York City on September 11, 2001.
Methods:  The authors interviewed 180 parents of children who were age five or younger on September 11th, 2001. Parents were asked to provide information concerning family demographic characteristics, their own and their children's mental health, their children's behavioural difficulties in the aftermath of the WTC disaster, the number of WTC disaster experiences their children were exposed to, and the number of stressful life events their children experienced prior to the disaster.
Results:  Gender moderated the relationship between child exposure to the WTC disaster and several behavioural outcomes. Specifically, among children who were highly exposed boys evidenced significantly higher scores on parent report measures of internalising and total behavioural difficulties relative to girls.
Conclusions:  Findings are contrary to other research on children and trauma, in which gender differences are more often reported with higher rates of internalising behaviour among girls. Future research is needed that examines how and whether younger children's vulnerabilities in the face of trauma may differ by gender.     

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

This study was a first attempt to examine the psychometric properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Dutch youths. A large sample of normal children and adolescents (N = 562) and their parents completed the SDQ along with a number of other psychopathology measures. Factor analysis of the SDQ yielded five factors that were in keeping with the hypothesised subscales of hyperactivity-inattention, emotional symptoms, peer problems, conduct problems, and prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, internal consistency, test-retest stability, and parent-youth agreement of the various SDQ scales were acceptable. Finally, the concurrent validity of the SDQ was good: that is, its scores correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with other measures of psychopathology. It can be concluded that the psychometric properties of the parent- and self-report version of the SDQ were satisfactory in this Dutch community sample. Moreover, the current data provide further support for the utility of the SDQ as an index of psychopathological symptoms in youths. Accepted: 30 September 2002 Correspondence to Peter Muris, Ph. D.     

Comparison of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) scores between children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD)

The aim of this research was to compare the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores and subscale scores in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), and also to clarify the differences between parent- and teacher-assessed SDQ scores/subscores in HFASD and AD/HD children. These patients’ total difficulties scores were significantly high compared to the community sample. In the parent rating, HFASD children had significantly higher scores in the subscales of emotional symptoms and peer problems. In the teacher rating, AD/HD children showed significantly higher scores in the subscales of hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems, whereas peer problems were significantly higher in HFASD. The teacher rating showed significantly greater difficulties than the parent rating on the subscale of prosocial behavior in both the AD/HD and HFASD groups. These results suggest that each subscale may reflect behavioral, emotional, and social characteristics of HFASD and AD/HD.     

Subscales scores of the Lithuanian version of CBCL--preliminary data on the emotional and behavioural problems in childhood and adolescence

This study set out to investigate some psychometric properties of the Lithuanian version of CBCL for providing the preliminary data on the emotional and behavioural problems in Lithuanian children taking factors such as gender, age, SES and family composition into account. The CBCL was completed by parents of 7- to 11- and 12- to 14-year-old school children (N = 1296) drawn from the urban and suburban population. Younger boys scored higher than girls on externalizing problems and total problems scores, and older girls scored higher on internalizing problems. Younger children scored higher than the older children on total problems and externalizing problems scores. The comparisons with the US sample indicated that the levels of problem behaviour in 7- to 14-year-old children are similar to those found in the US. Lithuanian children had higher total problem scores; however, the effect sizes for other scales, except the attention problems scale and the somatic complaints scale, were very small. Similar to other studies, we found significant SES effects on total problem scores. Problem scores were highest for the lowest SES children. In general, this study supports previous findings concerning CBCL: similarities in emotional and behavioural problems outweigh differences in cross-cultural studies based on CBCL. Accepted: 14 January 2003 Correspondence to R. Zukauskiene     

Depressive Symptoms Among Children and Adolescents in Iran: A Confirmatory Factor Analytic Study of the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Iranian translation of the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) in school children and adolescents in Iran. The CES-DC is a 20-item self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. A total of 1,984 children and adolescents, aged 12–17 years, participated in this research. In addition to the CES-DC, all participants completed the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The CES-DC demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach Alpha = .87). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed the same four factor structure as proposed by Radloff. Invariance tests showed an equivalent structure among boys and girls and younger and older adolescents. The CES-DC total scores correlated significantly with the SCAS total scores and the SDQ emotional symptoms subscale, providing support of its convergent validity. To conclude, the CES-DC proved to be a reliable and valid measure of depressive symptoms in the Iranian context.     

Serious emotional and behavioral problems and mental health contacts in American and British children and adolescents

OBJECTIVE: To compare prevalence of serious emotional and behavioral problems and mental health contacts for these problems among American and British children and adolescents. METHOD: Data on children and adolescents ages 5 to 16 years were drawn from the 2004 U.S. National Health Interview Survey (response rate = 79.4%) and the 2004 survey of Mental Health of Children and Young People in Great Britain (response rate = 76.0%). Emotional problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and conduct problems were assessed using the parent version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Psychometric properties of SDQ scales were compared across countries. RESULTS: The SDQ has similar psychometric properties across countries. More British than American children met the criteria for emotional and conduct problems, but not hyperactivity/inattention. Prevalence was higher for all problems in 5- to 8-year-old British boys and for emotional problems in 13- to 16-year-old British girls. American children with serious emotional and behavioral problems had a higher prevalence of mental health contacts overall and with mental health providers but not with general medical providers. CONCLUSIONS: British children have a higher prevalence of parent-reported serious emotional and behavioral problems than American children. However, British children with these problems are less likely than American children to receive mental health care.     

Self-reported strengths and difficulties in a large Norwegian population 10–19 years

This study reports young people’s assessment of own problems and strengths from a Norwegian survey (n=29,631, age range 10–19), based on the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (response rate 84.3%). Differences according to the age and gender are illuminated. Girls reported most emotional problems and boys most conduct and peer problems. Compared to other countries, Norwegian adolescents reported more hyperactive behaviour. Total problem scores were highest in early-adolescence for boys (Mean=10.8, SD=6.1), and for girls it is in late adolescence (Mean 11.3, SD=5.2). One third of the subjects reported at least minor perceived difficulties. All symptom scales were strongly associated with perceived difficulties, impact and burden to others (P<0.001) with significant gender and age effects. Impact scores were included in the estimate of possible caseness. Combining symptom scores and impact scores, 3.7% of the sample was defined as a high risk group, while 8.8% needed special attention from mental health services. The results also suggested that SDQ could be a valuable screening instrument for older adolescents.