Epidemiological comparisons of American and Dutch adolescents' self-reports

To determine the cross-cultural applicability of self-reports of adolescents' problems and competencies.

Youth Self-Reports (YSRs) were completed by 803 American and 803 Dutch nonreferred adolescents matched by gender, age, and socioeconomic status.

Comparisons revealed that American adolescents reported many more problems than did Dutch adolescents. This finding contrasts sharply with the American/Dutch similarities in parents' and teachers' reports of children's problem behaviors. Competence scores also were much higher for the American than the Dutch sample.

Cutpoints for discriminating the normal and the clinical range of YSR scores need to be adjusted to local norms for the Dutch sample. Cultural factors may be responsible for the cross-national differences.