The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Revisited in a French-Speaking Population

Abstract

International audienceKey concerns about the psychometric properties of the 25-item version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) have consistently been raised in the literature. The present study aimed at examining the meaningfulness of an alternative model to the SDQ in which 7 problematic items are excluded. French-speaking parents of 262 boys and 263 girls aged 6 to 16 years completed the SDQ. Through confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs), results provided support for a new, reduced, and psychometrically sound version of the SDQ called SDQ-R that displayed good factorial validity, construct validity, reliability, and multi-group invariance across gender. Overall, the attractive features of the SDQ-R make it a promising instrument for quickly screening emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents

Tracking Emotional and Behavioral Changes in Childhood: Does the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire Measure the Same Constructs Across Time?

“…White, Connelly, Thompson, and Wilson (2013) also found that participants often report unease with these items. While some researchers have suggested eliminating these “problematic items” (Chauvin & Leonova, 2016), we did not find any consistent evidence in our study to suggest that these items are a threat to invariance. It may also be the case that these are the items that legitimately differentiate between “abnormal” and “borderline” difficulties.…”

“…Goodman, Lamping, & Ploubidis, 2010). Other researchers have suggested eliminating “problematic items” and using a version with reduced number of items (Chauvin & Leonova, 2016).…”

Exploratory Graph Analysis of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

“…Duinhof et al (2020) reported, for instance, that after the exclusion of the obedient item and all reverse-worded items, the revised SDQ (SDQ-R) showed better model fit and achieved partial measurement invariance across seven European countries. Chauvin and Leonova (2016) proposed another version of the SDQ-R, in which seven items (i.e., unhappy, somatic, bullied, steals, fights, fidgety , and kind ) were excluded, resulting in adequate model fit and improvement compared with the original SDQ five-factor structure.…”