title: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): the factor structure and scale validation in U.S. adolescents.
abstract: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is one of the most commonly used instruments for screening psychopathology in children and adolescents. This study evaluated the hypothesized five-factor structure of the SDQ and examined its convergent validity against comprehensive clinical diagnostic assessments. Data were derived from the National Comorbidity Survey - Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents aged 13 to 18 years. Parents/parent surrogates (n=6,483) was asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire including the SDQ and DSM-IV comprehensive diagnostic information on the participating adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the factor structure of the SDQ. The five-factor solution of the SDQ (including emotional, conduct, hyperactivity-inattention, peer relationship, and prosocial) provided a satisfactory fit to the data, and was invariant across sex, age, race/ethnicity and income subgroups. SDQ scores predicted a significantly increased probability of meeting criteria for a DSM-IV disorder, with better prediction for behavior disorders than for mood disorders. Decreasing the SDQ cutoffs to the 80th percentile significantly increased the sensitivity from 39% to 63% for the SDQ Total Difficulties Score, with an expected decrease in specificity from 93% to 87%. This work confirms the five-factor structure of the SDQ in an ethnically and sociodemogrpahically diverse community sample of adolescents. Our findings strengthen empirical evidence for the use of the parent-reported SDQ as a screening tool for DSM-IV behavioral and emotional disorders in adolescents identified in the general population.
authors.affiliation: Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Building 35, Room 1A201, 35 Convent Drive, MSC #3720, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. hejian@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Jian-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Marcy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burstein
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: Kathleen R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Merikangas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D010290:Parents; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States