Strenghts and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Chid and Addolescent Assessment: A Critical Review of Psychometric Evidence, Cross Cultural Applicability, and Implications for Kenya

Abstract

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a widely used behavioral screening instrument for assessing emotional and behavioral difficulties among children and adolescents. This is due to its accessibility, brevity and applicability across educational, clinical and research settings. Developed by Goodman in 1997, the SDQ is a 25-item questionnaire comprising five domains: Emotional symptoms, Conduct problems, Hyperactivity/Inattention, Peer Problems and Pro-Social Behavior. The analytical narrative review critically examines the historical development theoretical foundations, psychometric properties, cultural adaptation, clinical utility, and evidence regarding SDQ across global, African and Kenyan contexts. Relevant literature published from 2022 onwards was reviewed, and only seminal studies retained where necessary to provide theoretical and historical context. Literature addressing SDQ reliability, validity, factor structure, measurement invariance, standardization, cultural adaptation and clinical utility was synthesized, with particular attention to evidence from Kenya and other African settings. Overall, the evidence supports the usefulness of the SDQ as a screening instrument although psychometric performance varies across subscales, populations, informants and cultural contexts. Evidence from African settings indicate variability in cultural measurement, performance and factor structure highlighting the importance of context specific validation. In Kenya SDQ has been used increasingly in child and adolescent research, but evidence remains limited particularly regarding measurement invariance, comprehensive validation and locally driven norms. The review supports continued use of SDQ as a screening measure with cautious context sensitive interpretation while emphasizing need for comprehensive Kenyan psychometric validation, cultural adaptation and development of locally appropriate normative data are thus recommended to strengthen validity, applicability and reliability.