The Italian version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) - Teacher: Psychometric properties

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is an instrument developed by Goodman for screening child and adolescent psychopathology. The aim of this study is to contribute to the analysis and validation of the internal structure of the Italian SDQ teacher version (SDQT). The SDQ-T was completed by 301 teachers, evaluating 3,302 children aged 3 to 15 years. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) performed on a portion of the sample (n = 1,000) led to five interpretable factors, partially different from the original structure: Items 2 and 10 loaded on the Conduct Problems scale instead of that on the Hyperactivity/Inattention scale. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were performed to compare three different latent structures: the original five-factor structure; a second-order model recently proposed by Goodman, Lamping, and Ploubidis; and structure obtained with the EFA. The latter one showed the best fit. Significant differences by gender and school grade were found. The Italian SDQ-T’s internal structure differed in part from the original instrument; possible causes are discussed.