Abstract(s)
The main purpose of the present study
was to test the internal structure and to study the
measurement invariance of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), self
-reported version,
in five European countries. The sample consisted of 3012 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years
(
M
= 14.20;
SD
= .83). The five
-factor model (with correlated errors added), and the five
-factor model
(with correlated errors added)
with the reverse
-worded items allowed to cross
-load on the Prosocial
subscale, displayed adequate goodness of
-fit indices. Multi
-group confirmatory factor analysis showed
that the five
-factor model had partial strong measurement invariance by countries.
A total of 11 of the
25 items
were non
-invariant across samples.
The level of internal consistency of the Total difficulties
score was .84, ranging between .69 and .78
for the SDQ subscales
. The findings indicate that the
SDQ’s scales need to be modified in various ways for screening emotional and behavioural problems in
the five European countries that were analyzed.