Comparisons of problems reported by youths from seven countries.
OBJECTIVE
This study compared ratings for self-reported behavioral and emotional problems in adolescents from seven countries.


METHODS
Youth Self-Report scores were analyzed for 7,137 adolescents ages 11-18 years from general population samples from Australia, China, Israel, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United States.


RESULTS
Comparisons of problems scores yielded small to medium effect sizes for cross-cultural variations. Youths from China and Jamaica had the highest and youths from Israel and Turkey had the lowest mean total problems scores. With cross-cultural consistency, girls scored higher for internalizing and lower for externalizing than boys. Cross-cultural correlations were high among the mean item scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Empirically based assessment provided a robust method for assessing and comparing adolescents' self-reported problems. Self-reports thus supplemented empirically based assessments of parent-reported problems and offered a cost-effective way of identifying problems for which adolescents from diverse cultural backgrounds may need help.
Verhulst
Frank C
FC
Department of Child and Adolecent Psychaitry, Erasmus MC-Sophia, The Netherlands. m.engel@erasmusmc.nl
Achenbach
Thomas M
TM
van der Ende
Jan
J
Erol
Nese
N
Lambert
Michael C
MC
Leung
Patrick W L
PW
Silva
Maria A
MA
Zilber
Nelly
N
Zubrick
Stephen R
SR
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D000367:Age Factors; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007563:Jamaica / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology