Differential Stability and Interrater-Dependencies in the Assessment of Psychopathological Symptoms: Longitudinal Analyses Based on the SDQ in Children with and without Specific Learning Disabilities

Prax Kinderpsychol Kinderpsychiatr. 2021 May;70(4):282-297. doi: 10.13109/prkk.2021.70.4.282.ABSTRACTDifferential Stability and Interrater-Dependencies in the Assessment of Psychopathological Symptoms: Longitudinal Analyses Based on the SDQ in Children with and without Specific Learning Disabilities A widely used open access instrument for screening of internalising and externalising problem behaviour is the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). For the use of the SDQ in clinical practice, information about its differential validity and applicability for follow-up assessments is relevant. Therefore, the aim was to study the SDQ regarding differential stability in the repeatedly collected child, parent and teacher reports. As the social context influences the perception of symptoms, we additionally explored the extent to which the child, parent and teacher reports influenced each other. Also, we studied differences in problem behaviour between children with and without specific learning disabilities and between girls and boys. To this end, 60 children from 5th and 6th grade with and without specific learning disabilities and their parents and teachers filled in the SDQ at three time points during secondary school. The results of the cross-lagged-panel-analyses showed substantial stability for almost all subscales. This shows that in their SDQ-reports, parents, children and teachers can separate the stable parts of problem behaviour from situational variations therein...
Source: Praxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie - Category: Child Development Authors: Source Type: research