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The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a screening instrument in a community sample of high school seniors in Sweden

Svedin, Carl Göran LU and Priebe, Gisela LU (2008) In Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 62(3). p.225-232
Abstract
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been used among Swedish children since 1996, usually the parent or the teacher version. The self-report version was originally developed for children aged 11-16 years. The aim of this study was to investigate the application of the Swedish self-report version to a representative sample of 1015 senior high school students aged 17-19 years. Girls reported more emotional symptoms and scored higher on prosocial items than boys. Boys on the other hand scored higher on both conduct and peer problems. The means were similar to means in two Nordic studies that have included subjects of this age group. A confirmatory five-factor analyses explained 44.5% of the variance with a good fit for all... (More)
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been used among Swedish children since 1996, usually the parent or the teacher version. The self-report version was originally developed for children aged 11-16 years. The aim of this study was to investigate the application of the Swedish self-report version to a representative sample of 1015 senior high school students aged 17-19 years. Girls reported more emotional symptoms and scored higher on prosocial items than boys. Boys on the other hand scored higher on both conduct and peer problems. The means were similar to means in two Nordic studies that have included subjects of this age group. A confirmatory five-factor analyses explained 44.5% of the variance with a good fit for all subjects and boys but somewhat weaker for girls. The item-subscale correlation (ISC) ranged from moderate to high (r=0.47-0.76) and the Cronbach's alpha was 0.74 (ranging in the five subscales 0.50-0.70). The SDQ seems to be useful even in this older age group. The psychometric qualities were acceptable but can probably be improved by changing the oppositely worded questions and by considering development of different questionnaires for boys and girls at least in late adolescence. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Questionnaire (SDQ), Strengths and Difficulties, self-report, adolescents, screening, validation
in
Nordic Journal of Psychiatry
volume
62
issue
3
pages
225 - 232
publisher
Informa Healthcare
external identifiers
  • wos:000257583200008
  • scopus:47949087462
ISSN
1502-4725
DOI
10.1080/08039480801984032
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c751a6cb-63b4-43e3-bb7e-3098280c69df (old id 1254628)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:34:57
date last changed
2022-04-06 00:21:50
@article{c751a6cb-63b4-43e3-bb7e-3098280c69df,
  abstract     = {{The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been used among Swedish children since 1996, usually the parent or the teacher version. The self-report version was originally developed for children aged 11-16 years. The aim of this study was to investigate the application of the Swedish self-report version to a representative sample of 1015 senior high school students aged 17-19 years. Girls reported more emotional symptoms and scored higher on prosocial items than boys. Boys on the other hand scored higher on both conduct and peer problems. The means were similar to means in two Nordic studies that have included subjects of this age group. A confirmatory five-factor analyses explained 44.5% of the variance with a good fit for all subjects and boys but somewhat weaker for girls. The item-subscale correlation (ISC) ranged from moderate to high (r=0.47-0.76) and the Cronbach's alpha was 0.74 (ranging in the five subscales 0.50-0.70). The SDQ seems to be useful even in this older age group. The psychometric qualities were acceptable but can probably be improved by changing the oppositely worded questions and by considering development of different questionnaires for boys and girls at least in late adolescence.}},
  author       = {{Svedin, Carl Göran and Priebe, Gisela}},
  issn         = {{1502-4725}},
  keywords     = {{Questionnaire (SDQ); Strengths and Difficulties; self-report; adolescents; screening; validation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{225--232}},
  publisher    = {{Informa Healthcare}},
  series       = {{Nordic Journal of Psychiatry}},
  title        = {{The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a screening instrument in a community sample of high school seniors in Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08039480801984032}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/08039480801984032}},
  volume       = {{62}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}