2016 Volume 57 Issue 2 Pages 310-322
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a widely used measure of states of adjustment and mental health in children employed worldwide. However, few studies exist on the application of the SDQ by teachers in Japan, relative to the association of results with clinical assessments.
The subjects of this study were 307 first-graders at an elementary school, whose parents and teachers were asked to respond to the SDQ. The teachers were then interviewed by an experienced child psychiatrist or clinical psychologist regarding children for whom parental consent had been obtained regarding participation in the survey. Data from the interview were subsequently applied for clinical evaluation of the psychological and social functioning of the children using the Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS), and the results were used to investigate the association between results of the CGAS and the teacher- and parent-rated SDQs.
The results from 276 children were included in the study. The results from the SDQ showed moderate correlation between parent and teacher ratings regarding total difficulties and hyperactivity/inattention. However, variance in the mean and distribution of scores between teachers and parentsnecessitated establishment of a separate set of standards for these groups of raters.
The results of the CGAS evaluation revealed 8.0% of children as having adjustment difficulties. A relatively strong correlation was found between CGAS results and those of teacher-rated SDQs regarding total difficulties score, conduct problems, and hyperactivity/ inattention, indicating close association between the behavioral and hyperactivity/ inattention problems exhibited by children in the classroom and adjustment difficulties detected by the CGAS.
The identification of children with adjustment difficulties from teacher-rated SDQ scores was examined in light of clinical evaluation using the CGAS. Setting the cutoff at 12 points yielded a sensitivity of 0.86 and specificity of 0.87, suggesting utility of the teacher-rated SDQ to assist teachers in the identification of children with possible adjustment difficulties.
