Structural validity of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ, educator version) in Swedish preschool

Nord J Psychiatry. 2026 Jul 25:1-9. doi: 10.1080/08039488.2026.2704058. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Behaviour problems have been described as early signs of mental health problems among preschool children. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a commonly used screening instrument for this, which has demonstrated good validity for older children. Before starting to use SDQ for younger children, there is a need to further examine the underlying structure of SDQ in younger children.

AIMS: To investigate the structural validity of the teacher-rated SDQ when administered in two different groups of preschool children aged 1-3 and 4-5 years.

METHODS: Preschool teachers of 446 children aged 1-3 years and 293 in age 4-5 years were administered the educator-rated version of SDQ. Five different confirmatory factor analyses were carried out for two age groups separately, and the fit to the data of the resulting models was compared.

RESULT: For 4-5-year-olds, the five-factor (one for each subscale) and the two-factor (a total problems scale and a prosocial scale) demonstrated adequate fit to the data. For 1-3-year-olds, a considerably adjusted two-factor model was the only model with an adequate fit according to most indices, indicating that the total problems scale may be structurally valid in the younger age group and more adequate from the perspective of child development.

CONCLUSIONS: The results from the present study confirm and expand on findings from earlier studies by demonstrating that structural validity may be acceptable for the SDQ in a sample of children as young as one year.

PMID:42500953 | DOI:10.1080/08039488.2026.2704058