Reliability of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in Japanese preschool children aged 4-6 years

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychometric Evaluation

Background:

• The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a widely utilized brief behavioral screening tool.
• The SDQ 3-4 is specifically designed for assessing behavioral and emotional issues in young children.
• Reliability studies are crucial for validating screening tools in diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the SDQ 3-4.
• To assess the psychometric properties of the SDQ 3-4 in Japanese preschool children.
• To determine the suitability of the SDQ 3-4 for behavioral screening in this demographic.

Main Methods:

• Administered the SDQ 3-4 to 754 parents of Japanese preschool children (ages 4-6).
• Collected data at two time points over a two-week interval to assess test-retest reliability.
• Utilized Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency and correlation coefficients for test-retest reliability.

Main Results:

• Internal consistency was good for total difficulties (α=0.74) and prosocial behavior (α=0.70).
• Internal consistency was acceptable for emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and hyperactivity (α=0.61-0.66), but poor for peer problems (α=0.45).
• Test-retest reliability was good (r=0.73-0.82) for most scales, with peer problems showing lower reliability (r=0.58).

Conclusions:

• The SDQ 3-4 demonstrates satisfactory reliability for total difficulties and prosocial behavior scales in Japanese preschoolers.
• Reliability is acceptable for emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and hyperactivity scales.
• The peer problems scale requires cautious interpretation due to lower reliability in this population.