Despite the wide use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to assess adolescent mental health, its psychometric functionality is still under debate. This study investigated the structural validity and reliability of the SDQ scores, and the resemblance of the SDQ sum scores and factor scores. Factor one-dimensionality and competing multifactor structures were tested against data. With the best acceptable models, measurement invariance was tested between genders and over time. Subscale reliability and correspondence between subscale sum scores and factor scores were estimated. The nationally representative self-report data from 23,980 Finnish early (12-13 years) and mid- (15-16 years) adolescents (50.4% girls) were collected from two cohorts in 2008 and 2013. The results showed that among early adolescents, the revised SDQ with a controlled method effect had an excellent fit. In contrast, none of the tested models had an acceptable fit among the mid-adolescents. Among early adolescents, strong measurement invariance was achieved between genders and over time. Three of the five subscales were one-dimensional, and all subscales had low reliability. The resemblance between the subscale sum scores and factor scores was alarmingly low. Researchers should be cautious when using the SDQ Total Difficulties sum score or the subscale scores as they may be substantially biased, and practitioners should desist from using the SDQ as a screening tool in its current form. This study strongly supports the revision of the SDQ. In line with the previous findings, we suggest rewording the worst functioning items and revising the reverse-worded difficulties items. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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是时候修改 SDQ 了吗？优势和困难问卷的心理测量评估。

尽管优势与困难问卷（SDQ）被广泛用于评估青少年心理健康，但其心理测量功能仍然存在争议。本研究调查了 SDQ 分数的结构有效性和可靠性，以及 SDQ 总分和因子分数的相似性。针对数据测试了因子一维性和竞争性多因子结构。使用最佳可接受的模型，测试了性别之间和随时间变化的测量不变性。估计了子量表的可靠性以及子量表总分和因子得分之间的对应关系。2008 年和 2013 年两个队列中收集了 23,980 名芬兰早期（12-13 岁）和中期（15-16 岁）青少年（50.4% 女孩）的具有全国代表性的自我报告数据。结果显示，在早期青少年中，修订后的 SDQ 与受控方法效果非常吻合。相比之下，没有一个测试模型能够在青少年中期得到可接受的拟合。在青少年早期，不同性别之间和随着时间的推移，测量结果具有很强的不变性。五个分量表中有三个是一维的，所有分量表的信度都较低。子量表总分和因子得分之间的相似度低得惊人。研究人员在使用 SDQ 总难度总分或子量表分数时应谨慎，因为它们可能存在很大偏差，从业者应停止使用 SDQ 作为当前形式的筛选工具。本研究强烈支持SDQ的修订。根据之前的发现，我们建议重新措辞功能最差的项目并修改相反措辞的困难项目。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。