title: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in the Nordic countries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been translated into the different Nordic languages between 1996 and 2003. During the past few years, SDQs have been completed for nearly 100,000 children and adolescents in population-based studies as well as in clinical samples. The largest studies have been performed in Norway and Denmark, and in these countries the diagnostic interview DAWBA has also been used in conjunction with the SDQ.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In addition to a brief overview of past and ongoing SDQ work in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, we present scale means and standard deviations from selected community studies with comparable age groups, including parental reports for 7, 9 and 11 year-old children and self-reports of 13 and 15 year-olds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The descriptive statistics suggest that the distributions of SDQ scores are very similar across the Nordic countries. Further collaborative efforts in establishing norms and evaluating the validity of the SDQ as a screening instrument are encouraged.
authors.affiliation: Perinatal Epidemiological Research Unit, Dept. Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby, 8200, Aarhus N, Denmark. co@soci.au.dk
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Obel
authors.forename: Einar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heiervang
authors.forename: Alina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heyerdahl
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Smedje
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sourander
authors.forename: Olafur O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Guethmundsson
authors.forename: Jocelyne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clench-Aas
authors.forename: Else
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Frode
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Heian
authors.forename: Kristin S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Mathiesen
authors.forename: Páll
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Magnússon
authors.forename: Urethur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Njarethvík
authors.forename: Merja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koskelainen
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rønning
authors.forename: Kjell Morten
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Stormark
authors.forename: Jørn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003469:Culture; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015588:Observer Variation; D010290:Parents; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires