scholarly journals SDQ Developmental Invariance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aja Louise Murray ◽  
Lydia Gabriela Speyer ◽  
Hildigunnur Anna Hall ◽  
Sara Valdebenito ◽  
Claire Hughes

Developmental invariance is important for making valid inferences about child development from longitudinal data; however, tests of it are rare. We tested developmental and gender invariance for one of the most widely used measures of child mental health: the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Using data from the large UK population-representative Millennium Cohort Study (N= 11,315; with data at ages 3,5,7,11 and 14) we tested configural, metric and scalar invariance in emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, prosociality, and peer problems. We found scalar invariance held for all SDQ constructs longitudinally and across gender. Our results support the use of the SDQ for modelling the development of child mental health and related impairments over childhood and adolescence in mixed gender samples.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Gabriela Speyer ◽  
Anastasia Ushakova ◽  
Hildigunnur Anna Hall ◽  
Michelle Luciano ◽  
Bonnie Auyeung ◽  
...  

Background: Most mental health difficulties have their onset during childhood and adolescence. Many children who suffer from one mental health issue also suffer from at least one comorbid disorder. Autoregressive latent trajectory models with structured residuals (ALT-SR) and multilevel graphical vector autoregression (GVAR) are recent complementary approaches that can help provide new insights into the reciprocal relationships between multiple mental health domains and advance the understanding of the development of comorbidities.Methods: This study uses ALT-SR and multilevel GVAR models to analyse the temporal, contemporaneous and between-person relationships between emotional problems, peer problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention and prosociality as measured by the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in 17,478 children taking part in the UK Millennium Cohort Study at ages 3, 5, 7, 11, 14 and 17 years. Results: Results from both the ALT-SR model and the multilevel GVAR model highlight that children’s strengths and difficulties in different domains of psychosocial functioning dynamically influence each other over- and within-time. The ALT-SR model highlighted that hyperactivity/inattention plays a central role in affecting other domains over developmental time while the GVAR model highlighted comparably strong bidirectional relationships between conduct problems and prosociality as well as between emotional problems and peer problems. Both models suggest that most domains are also related to each other over shorter timescales.Conclusion: This study highlights that mental health difficulties influence one another dynamically over time. As illustrated in the domains of the SDQ, these dynamic changes can be modelled using the complementary techniques of ALT-SR or GVAR models, each offering different insights into the nature of comorbidity.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aja Louise Murray ◽  
Lydia Gabriela Speyer ◽  
Hildigunnur Anna Hall ◽  
Sara Valdebenito ◽  
Claire Hughes

Background and Objectives: Obtaining a multi-informant perspective is important when assessing psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Obtaining ratings from both parents and teachers also facilitates the evaluation of similarities and contrasts in the nature and severity of symptoms across home and school contexts. However, these informants may differ in their interpretations of observed behaviours, raising questions about the validity of comparing parents’ and teachers’ ratings. Methods: We evaluated the cross-informant measurement invariance of one of the most widely used measures of child and adolescent psychopathology: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Using data from the UK-population representative Millennium Cohort Study we evaluated configural, metric, and scalar invariance across parents and teachers at ages 7 (n=10,221) and 11 (n=10,543). Results: Scalar invariance held at both ages. Parents reported higher levels of symptoms in all domains measured at age 11 but higher prosociality. At age 7, parents reported higher levels of symptoms in some domains (conduct problems, hyperactivity/impulsivity), lower levels of symptoms in others (emotional problems, peer problems) and higher levels of prosociality.Conclusions: For a UK sample, valid comparisons of parent and teacher SDQ ratings at ages 7 and 11 appear to be possible, facilitating the evaluation of contextual differences in psychopathology expression.


Assessment ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107319112110093
Author(s):  
Aja Louise Murray ◽  
Lydia Gabriela Speyer ◽  
Hildigunnur Anna Hall ◽  
Sara Valdebenito ◽  
Claire Hughes

Developmental invariance is important for making valid inferences about child development from longitudinal data; however, it is rarely tested. We evaluated developmental and gender invariance for one of the most widely used measures of child mental health: the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Using data from the large U.K. population-representative Millennium Cohort Study ( N = 10,207; with data at ages 3, 5, 7, 11, 14, and 17 years), we tested configural, metric, scalar, and residual invariance in emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, prosociality, and peer problems. We found that the SDQ showed poor fit at age 3 in both males and females and at age 17 in males; however, it fit reasonably well and its scores were measurement invariant up to the residual level across gender at ages 5, 7, 11, and 14 years. Scores were also longitudinally measurement invariant across this age range up to the partial residual level. Results suggest that the parent-reported SDQ can be used to estimate developmental trajectories of emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, prosociality, and peer problems and their gender differences across the age range 5 to 14 years using a latent model. Developmental differences outside of this range may; however, partly reflect measurement differences.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J Noonan

Abstract Background The study aims were to: (i) examine associations between deprivation at age 7 and health outcomes at age 7 and 14, (ii) determine whether a deprivation gradient to health outcomes exists at age 7 and 14, and (iii) assess the extent to which health outcomes at age 7 are associated with health outcomes at age 14. Methods Data were from wave four and six of the Millennium Cohort Study. Health outcome measures were weight status, and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire measured mental health problems. Deprivation was determined using the 2004 English Indices of Multiple Deprivation. Adjusted logistic and multinomial logistic regressions were conducted. Results A total of 6109 children (1890 girls) had complete data. Overweight, obesity and mental health problems were greatest among children in the highest deprivation decile at age 7 and 14 (P < 0.001). Health outcomes at age 7 were significantly associated with health outcomes at age 14 (P < 0.001). Conclusions A marked social gradient to weight status and mental health was evident at age 7 and 14, and no evidence of equalization was found. Weight status and mental health in childhood is strongly associated with weight status and mental health in adolescence.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Gabriela Speyer ◽  
Hildigunnur Anna Hall ◽  
Anastasia Ushakova ◽  
Michelle Luciano ◽  
Aja Louise Murray ◽  
...  

Objective: Adolescence is a crucial period in the development of psychopathology with nearly 1 in 5 adolescents suffering from a mental health disorder. In addition, more than 40 percent of adolescents with a lifetime psychiatric disorder are estimated to suffer from a co-occurring mental health disorder. Mechanisms underlying the development of comorbidities are still not well understood. Method: Graphical Vector Autoregression models were used to analyse the temporal, contemporaneous and between-person relations of socio-emotional strengths difficulties in early childhood compared to adolescence. Mental health and related socio-emotional traits were measured longitudinally at ages 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 16 in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 11279) using the subscales of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaires (conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, emotional symptoms, peer problems and prosociality). Results: Results suggest that the period of adolescence is characterised by many more dynamic relations between socio-emotional difficulties than the early childhood period. In particular, the adolescence model highlights bidirectional connections between conduct problems and peer problems as well as between peer problems and emotional problems. The childhood model indicates that conduct problems and prosociality share a reciprocal relation. It further suggests peer problems as a potential mediating factor between conduct problems and emotional difficulties. Conclusion: This study emphasises that the different domains of psychosocial functioning dynamically influence each other over- and within-time. Adolescence is characterised by an increase in temporal connections reflecting the increased vulnerability to the onset of mental health problems during that period.


2012 ◽  
Vol 200 (5) ◽  
pp. 426-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Goodman ◽  
Robert Goodman

SummaryBritish local authorities are required to monitor the mental health of looked after children using mean Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores from parents or carers. This assumes that differences in mean SDQ scores reflect genuine differences in child mental health in this group, something we examined using nationally representative surveys (n = 1391, age 5–16). We found that the SDQ was a genuinely dimensional measure of mental health in these children and provided accurate estimates of disorder prevalence.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 2171-2179 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Lewis ◽  
R. Plomin

BackgroundAlthough behavioural problems (e.g. anxiety, conduct, hyperactivity, peer problems) are known to be heritable both in early childhood and in adolescence, limited work has examined prediction across these ages, and none using a genetically informative sample.MethodWe examined, first, whether parental ratings of behavioural problems (indexed by the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire) at ages 4, 7, 9, 12, and 16 years were stable across these ages. Second, we examined the extent to which stability reflected genetic or environmental effects through multivariate quantitative genetic analysis on data from a large (n > 3000) population (UK) sample of monozygotic and dizygotic twins.ResultsBehavioural problems in early childhood (age 4 years) showed significant associations with the corresponding behavioural problem at all subsequent ages. Moreover, stable genetic influences were observed across ages, indicating that biological bases underlying behavioural problems in adolescence are underpinned by genetic influences expressed as early as age 4 years. However, genetic and environmental innovations were also observed at each age.ConclusionThese observations indicate that genetic factors are important for understanding stable individual differences in behavioural problems across childhood and adolescence, although novel genetic influences also facilitate change in such behaviours.


2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Niclasen ◽  
A M Nybo Andersen ◽  
T W Teasdale ◽  
K Strandberg-Larsen

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