Examining the Structural Validity of the Strengths and Diculties Questionnaire (SDQ) in a Multilevel Framework

Authors: Lara Marie Azzopardi, Liberato Camilleri, Fiona Sammut, Carmel Cefai

Corresponding: Liberato Camilleri (liberato.camilleri@um.edu.mt)

Keywords: Social emotional and behaviour diculties (SEBD), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Conrm- atory Factor Analysis (CFA), Structural Equation Mod- elling (SEM), Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling (MSEM)

Doi: http://dx.medra.org/10.7423/XJENZA.2018.1.03

Issue: Xjenza Online Vol. 6 Iss. 1 - September 2018

Abstract:
The Strengths and Diculties Question- naire (SDQ), proposed by Goodman (1997), has been used by many researchers to measure the social, emo- tional and behaviour diculties in children. The SDQ comprises four diculty subscales measuring emotional, conduct, hyperactivity and peer problems. It also in- cludes a fth subscale measuring prosocial behaviour. A sample of 5200 Maltese students who were aged between 6 and 16 years was used to investigate the multilevel factor structure underlying the teachers' version of the SDQ. Statistical analysis in this study was conducted using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Conrmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling (MSEM). The study nds that a two-level three-factor model ts the data marginally better than a single-level three-factor model.

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