Download Strengths of SDQ - University of Colorado Denver

What is the SDQ?
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a brief behavioural screening questionnaire about
3-16 year olds. It exists in several versions to meet the needs of researchers, clinicians and
educationalists. Each version includes between one and three of the following components:
1) emotional symptoms (5 items)
2) conduct problems (5 items)
3) hyperactivity/inattention (5 items)
4) peer relationship problems (5 items)
5) prosocial behaviour (5 items)
1. There is a focus on both strengths and weaknesses, whereas BPI is only problem focused
2. There is evidence of sensitivity to change, discriminant validity (even versus CBCL), and
predictive validity of broad categories of disorders. (See abstracts below).
3. There are multiple (slightly different) versions based on age:
a. http://www.sdqinfo.com/py/doc/b3.py?language=Englishqz(USA)
4. The is national data from a CDC household survey
a. http://www.sdqinfo.com/USNorm.html
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: research and clinical applications.
Vostanis P.
SourceGreenwood Institute of Child Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK. [email protected]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To critically discuss recent findings from studies using the Strengths and
Difficulties Questionnaire, in relation to different research designs and clinical purposes.
RECENT FINDINGS: A substantive body of research exists on the psychometric properties of the
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in different cultures. This body supports the validity and
reliability of its versions for the parent, teacher and self-reporting purpose, despite some variation in
cut-off scores. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire is increasingly being used as a measure of
child psychopathology in other types of research, that is, aetiological, longitudinal and service evaluation
studies. Future studies need to address in more detail the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
diagnostic algorithms, added value score, impact and burden items and a preschool version.
SUMMARY: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire has been established as the most widely used
instrument in child mental health research. It is easy to complete, is user friendly because of its positive
attributes items, allows comparisons to be made between different populations and is sensitive to
change.
Goodman R, Scott S (1999) Comparing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Child
Behavior Checklist: Is small beautiful? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 17-24.
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a brief behavioral screening questionnaire that can
be completed in 5 minutes by the parents or teachers of children aged 4 to 16; there is a self-report
version for 11-16 year olds. In this study, mothers completed the SDQ and the Child Behavior Checklist
(CBCL) on 132 children aged 4 through 7 and drawn from psychiatric and dental clinics. Scores from the
SDQ and CBCL were highly correlated and equally able to discriminate psychiatric from dental cases. As
judged against a semi-structured interview, the SDQ was significantly better than the CBCL at detecting
inattention and hyperactivity, and at least as good at detecting internalising and externalising problems.
Mothers of low-risk children were twice as likely to prefer the SDQ.
Goodman R, Renfrew D, Mullick M (2000) Predicting type of psychiatric disorder from Strengths and
Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores in child mental health clinics in London and Dhaka. European
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 9, 129-134.
Abstract
A computerised algorithm was developed to predict child psychiatric diagnoses on the basis of the
symptom and impact scores derived from Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs) completed by
parents, teachers and young people. The predictive algorithm generates "unlikely", "possible" or
"probable" ratings for four broad categories of disorder, namely conduct disorders, emotional disorders,
hyperactivity disorders, and any psychiatric disorder. The algorithm was applied to patients attending
child mental health clinics in Britain (N=101) and Bangladesh (N=89). The level of chance-corrected
agreement between SDQ prediction and an independent clinical diagnosis was substantial and highly
significant (Kendall's tau b between 0.49 and 0.73; p<0.001). A "probable" SDQ prediction for any given
disorder correctly identified 81-91% of the children who definitely had that clinical diagnosis. There
were more false positives than false negatives, i.e. the SDQ categories were over-inclusive. The
algorithm appears to be sufficiently accurate and robust to be of practical value in planning the
assessment of new referrals to a child mental health service.