Dataset Information

Teacher Versus Parent Informant Measurement Invariance of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Obtaining a multi-informant perspective is important when assessing mental health issues in childhood and adolescence. Obtaining ratings from both parents and teachers also facilitates the evaluation of similarities and contrasts in the nature and severity of symptoms across home and school contexts. However, these informants may differ in their interpretations of observed behaviors, raising questions about the validity of comparing parents' and teachers' ratings.

Methods

We evaluated the cross-informant measurement invariance of one of the most widely used measures of child and adolescent mental health: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Using data from the UK-population representative Millennium Cohort Study, we evaluated configural, metric, and scalar measurement invariance across parents and teachers when children were aged 7 (N = 10,221) and 11 (N = 10,543).

Results

Scalar measurement invariance held at both ages. Parents reported higher levels of symptoms in all domains measured at both ages as well as higher prosociality.

Conclusions

For a UK sample, valid comparisons of parent and teacher SDQ ratings at ages 7 and 11 appear to be possible, facilitating the evaluation of contextual differences in child mental health problems. Further, parents report more problem and prosocial behavior in their children than teachers attribute to them.

SUBMITTER: Murray AL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8561254 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Teacher Versus Parent Informant Measurement Invariance of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Murray Aja Louise AL Speyer Lydia Gabriela LG Hall Hildigunnur Anna HA Valdebenito Sara S Hughes Claire C

Journal of pediatric psychology 20211001 10

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Obtaining a multi-informant perspective is important when assessing mental health issues in childhood and adolescence. Obtaining ratings from both parents and teachers also facilitates the evaluation of similarities and contrasts in the nature and severity of symptoms across home and school contexts. However, these informants may differ in their interpretations of observed behaviors, raising questions about the validity of comparing parents' and teachers' rating ...[more]

PMID: 34333621

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Project description:BackgroundThe Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is widely used to screen for psychosocial problems among adolescents. As the severity of such problems is known to be related to age and gender, screening could be improved by interpreting SDQ scale scores with age-specific and perhaps gender-specific norms. Up to now, such norms are lacking. The aim of the current study is to present gender-specific and joint normative data per year of age for the Dutch self-reported and parent-reported SDQ versions for use among 12- to 17-year-old adolescents.MethodsThe norm groups for the self-reported and parent-reported SDQ versions consisted of 993 adolescents and 736 parents, respectively, from the general Dutch population. Per SDQ version, both gender-specific norms and joint norms (percentiles and cutoffs) per year of age were calculated through regression-based norming (Rigby in J Roy Stat Soc Ser C 54:507, 2005). Additionally, these norms were compared to the widely used British norms that are neither age-specific nor gender-specific.ResultsBy design, gender-specific 'abnormal' cutoffs (i.e., cutoffs aimed at identifying max. 10% of the most extremely scoring males and max. 10% of the most extremely scoring females) resulted in about equal percentages of 'abnormal' scoring male and female adolescents per SDQ scale. In contrast, joint 'abnormal' cutoffs (i.e., cutoffs aimed at identifying max. 10% of the most extremely scoring adolescents) resulted in relatively more male (7.6 to 13.6%, depending on age) than female (3.3 to 8.9%, depending on age) adolescents as scoring 'abnormal' on scales measuring externalizing behavior (self-reported and parent-reported SDQ versions), and relatively more female (3.9 to 14.3%, depending on age) than male (1.8 to 6.9%, depending on age) adolescents as scoring 'abnormal' on scales measuring internalizing behavior (self-reported SDQ version). In both types of norms, minor age effects were present. Among Dutch adolescents, the British norms yielded detection rates much lower than the expected 10%.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that detection rates depend on the reference group that is used (British or Dutch general adolescent population; specific gender group or not). The normative data in this paper facilitate the comparison of an adolescent's scores to different reference groups, and allow for cross-country/cultural comparisons of adolescents' psychosocial behavior.

Dataset Information

Teacher Versus Parent Informant Measurement Invariance of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Background and objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Teacher Versus Parent Informant Measurement Invariance of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Similar Datasets

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