The cross-cultural sensitivity of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): a comparative analysis of Gujarati and British children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) may be considered a reliable measure of child behaviour, social functioning and adjustment in an Indian Gujarati context. The sample comprised 351 children who were classified as coming from a 'poverty' or 'non-poverty' background. The means and standard deviations for the SDQ total and five behavioural scales, as rated by children themselves, were first calculated for the entire Gujarati sample, then for the poverty and non-poverty subgroups. The SDQ did prove to be an appropriate measure for behavioural assessment. Its cross-cultural sensitivity was ascertained by comparing it against a British normative population. Small effect sizes were seen in the Emotional subscale scores and scores for total difficulties, and medium and large effect sizes on the Prosocial and Peer subscales, respectively, with greater difficulties experienced by the Indian Gujarati sample than their British counterparts.