Validation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) emotional subscale in assessing depression and anxiety across development.

ABSTRACT: Emotional disorders are common in childhood, and their prevalence sharply increases during adolescence. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is widely used for screening emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and young people, but little is known about the accuracy of the emotional subscale (SDQ-E) in detecting emotional disorders, and whether this changes over development. Such knowledge is important in determining whether symptom changes across age are due to developmental or measurement differences. This study assessed the validity of the SDQ-E and two individual items (low mood and general worry) in differentiating between cases and non-cases of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and other anxiety disorders across ages 7, 10,

SUBMITTER: Armitage JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10355443 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature