Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) – teachers

Abstract

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a brief, widely used psychological scale designed to screen for psychological problems and positive attributes in children and adolescents. The teacher version specifically utilizes the perspective of educators, who observe the child in the school environment, providing critical data on the child’s functioning outside the home, particularly concerning behavior, concentration, and peer interactions. This instrument is structured to identify both difficulties (in areas like emotions, conduct, and relationships) and strengths (specifically prosocial behaviour).

The SDQ is highly valued for its brevity and ability to yield a Total Difficulties score derived from four subscales, alongside an optional impact supplement that assesses the severity and functional impairment associated with the reported difficulties, aiding clinical decision-making.

Keywords

SDQ, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Teacher Report, Child mental health, Emotional symptoms, Conduct problems, Hyperactivity/inattention, Peer relationship problems, Prosocial behaviour, Screening tool.

Authors

Robert Goodman, H. Meltzer, V. Bailey, A. Goodman, D.L. Lamping, G.B. Ploubidis.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the SDQ (Teacher version) is to provide educators with a quick, standardized method for screening children and adolescents aged 4 to 17 for common emotional and behavioral difficulties. It is frequently employed in epidemiological studies, clinical practice, and school-based mental health programs to identify individuals who may require further assessment by child psychiatry or specialized services.

A secondary, but equally important, objective is the assessment of the functional impact of these difficulties. The included impact supplement allows teachers to report on the chronicity, distress, and level of interference the problems cause in key life domains, such as learning and peer relationships, thereby distinguishing subclinical issues from clinically significant impairment.

Construct

The SDQ measures five distinct but related subscales, each containing five items, totaling 25 items. These factors are designed to cover both psychopathology (difficulties) and positive attributes (strengths) relevant to child mental health.

The five core constructs measured are: 1) Emotional Symptoms (measuring internalizing distress such as anxiety and depression); 2) Conduct Problems (measuring externalizing, rule-breaking behaviors); 3) Hyperactivity/Inattention (measuring restlessness, impulsivity, and concentration issues); 4) Peer Relationship Problems (measuring difficulties in social interaction and isolation); and 5) Prosocial Behaviour (the strength subscale, measuring kindness, sharing, and helpfulness).

Validity

The validity of the SDQ has been extensively established across various international samples. Early validation research by Goodman demonstrated strong concurrent and predictive validity against clinical diagnoses of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents, establishing its utility as a robust indicator of ‘caseness’ requiring professional attention.

The teacher version is particularly effective in capturing externalizing behaviors, such as Conduct Problems and Hyperactivity/Inattention, as teachers observe these behaviors consistently in structured group settings. The inclusion of the impact supplement further enhances clinical validity by ensuring that scores are weighted by the level of functional impairment experienced by the child, a crucial element in determining diagnostic severity.

Reliability

The SDQ demonstrates generally good reliability. Internal consistency (measured by Cronbach’s alpha) is typically strong for the Total Difficulties score, which aggregates the four problem subscales. While some individual subscales (particularly Peer Problems) may exhibit moderate internal consistency, they remain valuable due to their clinical relevance.

Test-retest reliability, which assesses the stability of the scale over a short period, is reported as strong for the SDQ across different informant versions, confirming that the scale provides consistent measurement of stable behavioral characteristics when rated by teachers.

Factor Analysis

Factor analyses conducted on the SDQ consistently support the hypothesized five-factor structure, validating the division of items into the five subscales. This structure allows researchers and clinicians to obtain detailed profiles of a child’s strengths and difficulties, rather than just a global measure of distress.

However, subsequent research, including work by Goodman et al. (2010), has confirmed that the four difficulty scales can be reliably grouped into two broader second-order factors: Internalizing Problems (combining Emotional Symptoms and Peer Problems) and Externalizing Problems (combining Conduct Problems and Hyperactivity/Inattention). These broader factors are often preferred in large-scale epidemiological studies due to their increased statistical robustness.

Instrument

Test Type: Screening Questionnaire (Rating Scale)

Format: 25 items (20 difficulty items, 5 strength items) plus an optional Impact Supplement. Items are rated on a 3-point Likert scale (Not True, Somewhat True, Certainly True).

Language Available: Available in over 80 languages worldwide. The official instrument can be found at http://www.sdqinfo.com/.

Population Group: Children and Adolescents.

Age Group: Typically 4–17 years old, spanning primary and secondary education years.

Population Details: Used globally in clinical, epidemiological, and educational settings. Responses are provided by teachers/educators who know the child well (usually having known the child for at least a few months).

Test Methodology: Rater-completed questionnaire. Scoring yields five subscale scores and a Total Difficulties score (sum of the first four subscales, ranging 0–40). Scores are typically interpreted using established cut-offs to categorize results as Normal, Borderline, or Abnormal.

Keywords

Child screening, Behavioral assessment, Mental health screening, Teacher rating, Externalizing behaviors, Internalizing behaviors, Robert Goodman, SDQ.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source content)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source content)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source content)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire is generally available free of charge for non-commercial use, teaching, and academic research purposes, fostering its widespread adoption across public health and educational sectors. Commercial applications or translations usually require formal permission or licensing. The initial foundational research and publication of the SDQ occurred in 1997.

Reference’s

• Goodman R (1997) The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A Research Note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581-586.
• Goodman R, Meltzer H, Bailey V (1998) The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A pilot study on the validity of the self-report version. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 7, 125-130.
• Goodman R (1999) The extended version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a guide to child psychiatric caseness and consequent burden. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 791-801.
• Goodman A, Lamping DL, Ploubidis GB (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.

Items of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) – teachers

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Considerate of other people’s feelings
2. Restless, overactive, cannot stay still for long
3. Often complains of headaches, stomach-aches or sickness
4. Shares readily with other children, for example toys, treats, pencils
5. Often loses temper
6. Rather solitary, prefers to play alone
7. Generally well behaved, usually does what adults request
8. Many worries or often seems worried
9. Helpful if someone is hurt, upset or feeling ill
10. Constantly fidgeting or squirming
11. Has at least one good friend
12. Often fights with other children or bullies them
13. Often unhappy, depressed or tearful
14. Generally liked by other children
15. Easily distracted, concentration wanders
16. Nervous or clingy in new situations, easily loses confidence
17. Kind to younger children
18. Often argumentative with adults
19. Picked on or bullied by other children
20. Often offers to help others (parents, teachers, other children)
21. Can stop and think things out before acting
22. Can be spiteful to others
23. Gets along better with adults than with other children
24. Many fears, easily scared
25. Good attention span, sees work through to the end

Do you have any other comments or concerns?

Overall, do you think that this child has difficulties in any of the following areas: emotions, concentration, behavior or being able to get on with other people?

No, Yes minor difficulties, Yes definite difficulties, Yes severe difficulties

If you have answered “Yes”, please answer the following questions about these difficulties:

• How long have these difficulties been present? Less than a month, 1-5 months, 6-12 Months, Over a year
• Do the difficulties upset or distress your child? Not at all, Only a little, A medium amount, A great deal
• Do the difficulties interfere with the child’s everyday life in the following areas?

PEER RELATIONSHIPS: Not at all, Only a little, A medium amount, A great deal

LEARNING: Not at all, Only a little, A medium amount, A great deal

• Do the difficulties put a burden on you or the class or group as a whole? Not at all, Only a little, A medium amount, A great deal

Scoring Scale Options:

Not True, Somewhat True, Certainly True

The instrument measures:

1) emotional symptoms, 2) conduct problems, 3) hyperactivity/inattention, 4) peer relationship problems and 5) prosocial behaviour