An Item Response Theory Analysis of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
Abstract
Abstract. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) assesses five subscales for measuring child adjustment. In the present study, an item response theory approach was used to analyze the parent version of the SDQ subscales and the total difficulties score (TDS), which is obtained by summing up the scores of the four problem subscales. Analyses are based on two data sets: The German Family Panel “Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam, N = 1,078)” and the survey “Growing up in Germany” (Aufwachsen in Deutschland: Alltagswelten; AID:A, N = 1,346). Partial credit and generalized partial credit models were estimated for each subscale and a bifactor model was applied to the TDS. The results showed satisfying psychometric properties in both samples for each of the five subscales, except for the “Hyperactivity/Inattention” subscales which seemed to have a two-dimensional structure. Item discrimination and category threshold parameters were broadly comparable between the samples. According to the bifactor models, there is evidence for multidimensionality in the TDS, but the general factor was strong. Thus, the TDS can be treated as essentially unidimensional, although some subscales may be of additional value.
References
1991). Integrative guide for the 1991 CBCL/4–18, YSR, and TRF profiles. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
(1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
. (2004). Validation of the parent and teacher SDQ in a clinical sample. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 13, ii11–ii16. doi: 10.1007/s00787-004-2003-5
(2015). Factors of psychological distress: Clinical value, measurement substance, and methodological artefacts. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 50, 515–524. doi: 10.1007/s00127-015-1022-5
(2014). Using item and test information to optimize targeted assessments of psychological distress. Assessment, 21, 679–693. doi: 10.1177/1073191114529152
(2012). A tutorial on hierarchically structured constructs. Journal of Personality, 80, 796–846. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00749.x
(2015). Investigation of a bifactor model of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 24, 1291–1301. doi: 10.1007/s00787-015-0679-3
(2010). A two-tier full-information item factor analysis model with applications. Psychometrika, 75, 581–612. doi: 10.1007/s11336-010-9178-0
(2011). Generalized full-information item bifactor analysis. Psychological Methods, 16, 221–248. doi: 10.1037/a0023350
(2012). mirt: A Multidimensional item response theory package for the R environment. Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 1–29. doi: 10.18637/jss.v048.i06
(1997). Local dependence indexes for item pairs using item response theory. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 22, 265–289. doi: 10.3102/10769986022003265
(2010). Item response theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(2008). Effects of estimation methods on making trait-level inferences from ordered categorical items for assessing psychopathology. Psychological Assessment, 20, 55–62. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.20.1.55
(2014). On the inappropriateness of using items to calculate total scale score reliability via coefficient alpha for multidimensional scales. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 30, 130–139. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000181
(2010). When to use broader internalising and externalising subscales instead of the hypothesised five subscales on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): Data from British parents, teachers and children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38, 1179–1191. doi: 10.1007/s10802-010-9434-x
(1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581–586. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x
(2001). Psychometric properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 1337–1345. doi: 10.1097/00004583-200111000-00015
(2007). The psychometric properties of the self-reported SDQ: An analysis of Swedish data based on the Rasch model. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 1289–1301. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2011.07.005
(2007). Psychiatric disorders in Norwegian 8-to 10-year-olds: An epidemiological survey of prevalence, risk factors, and service use. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46, 438–447. doi: 10.1097/chi.0b013e31803062bf
(2011). Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam): Conceptual framework and design. Zeitschrift für Familienforschung – Journal of Family Research, 23, 77–101.
(2011). Exploratory bi-factor analysis. Psychometrika, 76, 537–549. doi: 10.1007/s11336-011-9218-4
(2000). Comparing the German versions of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ-Deu) and the child behavior checklist. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 9, 271–276. doi: 10.1007/s007870070030
(2013). The bifactor model of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 29, 299–307. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000160
(1982). A Rasch model for partial credit scoring. Psychometrika, 47, 149–174. doi: 10.1007/BF02296272
(1992). A generalized partial credit model: Application of an EM algorithm. Applied Psychological Measurement, 16, 159–176. doi: 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1992.tb01436.x
(1998–2012). Mplus User’s Guide (7th Ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
(2013). A confirmatory approach to examining the factor structure of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): A large scale cohort study. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 355–365. doi: 10.1007/s10802-012-9683-y
(2015). A general psychopathology factor in early adolescence. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 207, 15–22. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.14959
(2016). Maternal psychological distress in primary care and association with child behavioural outcomes at age three. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 25(6), 601–613. doi: 10.1007/s00787-015-0777-2
(2012). Aufwachsen in Deutschland. AID:A – Der neue DJI-Survey
([Growing up in Germany. AID:A – The new DJI survey] . Weinheim, Germany: Juventa.2009). Multidimensional item reponse theory. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
(2012). The rediscovery of bifactor measurement models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 47, 667–696. doi: 10.1080/00273171.2012.715555
(2010). Bifactor models and rotations: Exploring the extent to which multidimensional data yield univocal scores. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92, 544–559. doi: 10.1080/00223891.2010.496477
(2016). Evaluating bifactor models: Calculating and interpreting statistical indices. Psychological Methods, 21(2), 137–150. doi: 10.1037/met0000045
(1994). A conditional item-fit index for Rasch models. Applied Psychological Measurement, 18, 171–182. doi: 10.1177/014662169401800206
(2008). Psychometric properties of the parent strengths and difficulties questionnaire in the general population of German children and adolescents: Results of the BELLA study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 17, 99–105. doi: 10.1007/s00787-008-1011-2
(1969). Estimation of latent ability using a response pattern of graded scores. Psychometric Monograph Supplement, 34 (Monograph No. 17). Richmond, VA: Psychometric Society.
(2015). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: Psychometric properties of the parent and teacher version in children aged 4–7. BMC Psychology, 3, 4. doi: 10.1186/s40359-015-0061-8
(2010). Psychometric properties of the parent and teacher versions of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire for 4- to 12-year-olds: A review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 13, 254–274. doi: 10.1007/s10567-010-0071-2
(2013). The parent version of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 29, 44–50. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000119
(2008). Construct validity of the five-factor Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in pre-, early- and late adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 1304–1312. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01942.x
(2001). WINMIRA 2001 user’s guide. Kiel, Germany: IPN.
(2007). Item factor analysis: Current approaches and future directions. Psychological Methods, 12, 58–79. doi: 10.1037/1082-989X.12.1.58
(2004). Normative data and scale properties of the German parent SDQ. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 13, ii3–ii10. doi: 10.1007/s00787-004-2002-6
(