Factor structure of the SDQ and longitudinal associations from pre-school to pre-teen in New Zealand

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the validity of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in a cohort of New Zealand children followed from birth to the age of eleven. The study also aimed to assess the stability of the child data in relation to behavioural outcomes during this period. Methods Children in the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative Study were assessed at approximately 3½, 7 and 11 years of age. At all time-points parents completed the parent version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the children themselves completed the self-report version at 11 years of age. The validity and internal consistency were assessed using exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, and McDonald’s Omega. Cross tabulations and Chi-square statistics were used to determine whether Total Difficulty scores, as per accepted cut-offs, remained stable over time (between normal and abnormal/borderline categories). Results The factor structure remained relatively consistent across all three time-points, though several questions did not load as per the originally published factor analysis at the earliest age. The internal consistency of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was good at all time-points and for parent- and child-completed versions. There was low agreement in the total scores between time points. Conclusions The factor analysis shows that the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire has a similar factor structure, particularly in older ages, to that previously published and shows good internal consistency. At the pre-school follow up, a larger than expected proportion of children were identified with high scores, particularly in the conduct sub-scale. Children’s behaviour changes over time, with only poor to moderate agreement between those identified as abnormal or borderline over the longitudinal follow up.

Association of Prenatal Acetaminophen Exposure Measured in Meconium With Risk of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Mediated by Frontoparietal Network Brain Connectivity

“…A strength of this study was the unbiased, biological measure of fetal acetaminophen exposure. All but 1 of the prior studies of the association between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and child ADHD [43][44][45][46][47][48][49] have relied on questionnaires requiring mothers to recall drug use at intervals greater than 3 months. Difficulty recalling drug use during pregnancy may result in nondifferential misclassification bias toward the null.…”

Early Childhood Exposures to Fluorides and Child Behavioral Development and Executive Function: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study

“…Given the uncertainty in evidence of the association between exposure to fluoridated water and child development, any research on such an association should target primary outcomes of child development that are sensitive to even small chemical injury and use instruments that can reliably measure those outcomes. The 2 instruments used in this study (SDQ and BRIEF) have shown high reliability in measuring those aspects (Nyongesa et al 2019; Thompson et al 2021). Hence, the study contributes to addressing the call to investigate the potential neurotoxic effect of fluoride (Bellinger 2019).…”

Longitudinal bidirectional association between youth electronic cigarette use and tobacco cigarette smoking initiation in Thailand

“…The SDQ is a 25-question tool which has been used to evaluate mental health status during the past 6 months of young children and adolescents aged 4–16 years 27–29. Each question is scored on a 3-point Likert scale 30. The SDQ consists of five subscales (emotion, conduct, hyperactivity, peer problems and prosocial) 30.…”

“…Each question is scored on a 3-point Likert scale 30. The SDQ consists of five subscales (emotion, conduct, hyperactivity, peer problems and prosocial) 30. The SDQ’s total difficulty scores are sum of the first four subscales with the total score of 40 (10 on each scale), where larger scores correspond to more social, emotional and behavioural difficulties 29.…”

“…The SDQ’s total difficulty scores are sum of the first four subscales with the total score of 40 (10 on each scale), where larger scores correspond to more social, emotional and behavioural difficulties 29. The fifth subscale (prosocial) is generally scored separately where smaller scores correspond to more antisocial behaviour (the total score of 10),30 so we added prosocial as a separate variable.…”