The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in the Bergen Child Study: a conceptually and methodically motivated structural analysis.
OBJECTIVE
To test Goodman's theoretical 5-factor model of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in an analysis of the Norwegian parent (P) and teacher (T) versions of the questionnaire.


METHODS
The T-SDQ was analyzed for 8,999 (95.4% of all) children in primary school grades 2-4 in Bergen, Norway, whereas the P-SDQ was examined for 6,430 children (68.2%). Main analyses were exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.


RESULTS
The analyses supported a modestly modified version of Goodman's 5-factor model for both the P-SDQ and the T-SDQ. The correlations between latent factors were high, particularly when the conduct problem factor was involved, reflecting a high level of overlap between the problem areas. Cross-informant correlation between parents and teachers was moderate to high for the problem subscales and considerably higher than the corresponding correlation between subscales that has been found in earlier studies.


CONCLUSIONS
None of the alternative models derived from the exploratory factor analysis fitted the data better than a slightly modified version of Goodman's 5-factor model, which showed acceptable goodness of fit.
Sanne
Bjarte
B
Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. bjarte.sanne@rbup.uib.no
Torsheim
Torbjørn
T
Heiervang
Einar
E
Stormark
Kjell Morten
KM
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009664:Norway; D010290:Parents; D025341:Principal Component Analysis / Q000379:methods; D002666:Psychology, Child / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires