title: Screening for the ADHD Phenotype Using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in a Clinical Sample of Newly Referred Children and Adolescents.
abstract: To examine the screening ability of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for ADHD subtypes in a clinical sample.
  
  
  
  Parents of 523 children (3 to 17 years old) referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services completed the Spanish version of the SDQ and the ADHD Rating Scale-IV. Receiver operating curve (ROC) curve analyses and likelihood ratios (LRs) were conducted.
  
  
  
  The LR results indicated that the 8/10 cutoff showed the highest diagnostic accuracy. The sensitivity of the SDQ 8/10 cutoff for the three subtypes was significantly different: 84.0% (95% confidence interval [CI] = [75.58, 89.90]) of ADHD combined subtype (ADHD-Co), 25.0% (95% CI = [17.55, 34.30]) of ADHD predominantly inattentive subtype (ADHD-I), and 77.8% (95% CI = [68.71, 84.83]) of ADHD predominantly hyperactive/impulsive subtype (ADHD-H). Sex and age differences were found. These screening differences were also found when using the 7/10 cutoff or the SDQ predictive algorithm.
  
  
  
  Our study supports the use of the SDQ in the screening for ADHD. However, not all ADHD subtypes are equally screened.
authors.affiliation: 1 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Carballo
authors.affiliation: 1 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Blanco
authors.affiliation: 1 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Rebeca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: García-Nieto
authors.affiliation: 1 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baca-García
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013030:Spain / Q000208:ethnology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: ADHD; clinical sample; screening; strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ)