Abstract
ObjectiveTo examine the psychometric properties of the online administered parental version of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and to provide parental norms from a nationwide Swedish sample.MethodsA total of 1443 parents from of a national probability sample of 2800 children aged 10-13 years completed the SDQ online or as usual (i.e., using paper-and-pencil).ResultsThe SDQ subscales obtained from the online administration showed high internal consistency (polychoric ordinal alpha), and confirmatory factor analysis of the SDQ five factor model resulted in excellent fit. The Total Difficulties score of the SDQ and its other subscales were significantly related to the Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD) rating scale. Norms for the parent version of SDQ obtained from the Internet were identical to those collected using paper-and-pencil. They were thus combined and are presented sorted by child gender and age.ConclusionsThe SDQ seems to be a reliable and valid instrument given its high internal consistency, clear factor structure and high correlation with other instruments capturing the intended constructs. Findings in the present study support its use for online data collection, as well as using norms obtained through paper-and-pencil-administration even when SDQ has been administrated online.
Highlights
Annual or cumulative prevalence rate of mental health problems and psychiatric illness among youth are high (e.g., [1,2,3])
Scores derived from the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) are highly correlated with CBCL, and it is significantly better than the CBCL in detecting inattention and hyperactivity when they both are compared to a semi-structured interview [19]
Psychometrics of SDQ online data Missing values and characteristics at item level Scrutinizing the SDQ at item level showed low rate of missing values (0.03% to 1%)
Summary
Annual or cumulative prevalence rate of mental health problems and psychiatric illness among youth are high (e.g., [1,2,3]). Children with early onset of either internalizing problems such as anxiousness and withdrawn behavior (e.g., [4]) or persistent externalizing problems such as defiant and disruptive behavior (e.g., [5,6,7]) are at higher risk for continued severe and debilitating mental health problems during adolescence and adulthood [8,9]. To reliably identify children with elevated risk for continued externalizing and internalizing problems, Most available instruments with strong psychometrics in this context focus heavily on children’s difficulties only (e.g., Child Behavior Checklist, CBCL: [13]), instead of capturing both strengths and problems. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire SDQ: [14,15,16] is a well-known, frequently used instrument in research [17,18], that can be completed in five minutes by parents or teachers for assessing psychological problems and prosocial behaviors among children aged 3–16 years. Scores derived from the SDQ are highly correlated with CBCL, and it is significantly better than the CBCL in detecting inattention and hyperactivity when they both are compared to a semi-structured interview [19]
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