Screening Measures for Detecting Psychiatric Disorders in Japanese Secondary School Children

Abstract

Measurement characteristics of screening measures (Rutter's teachers' and parents' questionnaires) were explored with some Japanese secondary school children. The characteristics included stability, cut-off points, factor analyses and agreements between questionnaire diagnoses and interviewer's judgement concerning types of disorder. These measures were used in combination and checked in terms of measurement characteristics. Age trends in the obtained results were described using 12-13-yr-old and 14-15-yr-old children. Results suggested that the cut-offs were age-dependent, regardless of the questionnaire type.

Establishing the constructs of childhood behavioral disturbances in a Chinese population: A questionnaire study

“…Their explanatory powers are moderate but the factors were robust as different statistical rotation methods and raters did not alter the factor structures, and they have fairly high internal consistency. The findings are in line with those reported by McGee et al (1985) in New Zealand, Morita et al (1990) in Japan, and Taylor et al (1991) in United Kingdom. These findings lend support to the existence of a construct of hyperactivity, apart from antisocial and emotional disturbances, across different cultures.…”

“…Morita et al (1990) in Japan reported a similar phenomenon in which disobedience had the lowest factor loading (0.50 vs. 0.74 to 0.84) on the Hyperactivity factor. This finding is not evident in studies in the West.…”

“…The original study reported satisfactory test-retest reliability (.74 for parents' and .89 for teachers' questionnaire), interrater reliability (.64 among parents and .72 among teachers), and success in differentiating children with neurotic or antisocial disorders (Rutter et al, 1970). Subsequent studies in different localities supported a good reliability (Zimmerman-Tansella, Minghetti, Tacconi, & Tansella, 1978), confirmed the three-factor structure (McGee et al, 1985), and reported satisfactory agreement between the questionnaire results and standardized interviews on the presence and types of disorders (Morita et al, 1990). Because of these well-established psychometric properties and the wide usage in both Western and Asian countries of the Rutter's questionnaires, the questionnaire's were employed in the present study.…”

“…The questionnaires enquired about behaviors pertaining to hyperactivity, antisocial, and emotional disturbances, but not specifically about attention deficits. They have been used in Asian countries including Japan (Morita, Suzuki, & Kamoshita, 1990), China (Ekblad, 1990;Wang, Shen, Gu, Jia, & Zhang, 1989) and Korea (Matsuura et al, 1993). Factor analysis was carried out in three of the studies.…”

Factor analysis of the Children's Behaviour Questionnaire in a Nigerian paediatric primary care population

“…10 Four of the factors relating to conduct problems, hyperactivity, school problems and emotional problems are similar to those obtained in this study. The Japanese study involved interviewing children judged as having deviant behaviour by a school nurse, thus indicating a high level of psychopathology in the sample.…”