%0 Journal Article
%T Strengths and difficulties in Croatian preschool children: validation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
%A Slavi£¿ek
%A Maja
%A Tatalovi£¿ Vorkapi£¿
%A Sanja
%A Vlah
%A Nata£¿a
%J -
%D 2017
%X Sa£¿etak Results on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) represent psychological adjustment, well-being, and mental health of children and youth. The SDQ contains 25 items, 10 of which reflect strengths, and 15 of which reflect difficulties, in children¡¯s behaviour. Based on its content, five different subscales can be generated: emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems, and prosocial behaviour. The aim of this study was to test the factor structure and reliability of this instrument. Twenty-nine preschool teachers in this study assessed the strengths and difficulties of 416 preschool children of both genders (241 boys and 220 girls), aged between 1.5 and 7.5 years (M = 5.00, SD = 1.17). After obtaining informed consent from preschool teachers, parents, and managers of randomly chosen kindergartens in Primorsko-goranska County in Croatia, preschool teachers rated the children¡¯s behaviour on the SDQ. A confirmatory factor analysis using principal component analysis and Oblimin rotation was conducted. The results confirmed the expected five-factor structure of SDQ, which explained 57.35% of total variance. The reliability of the questionnaire for all subscales proved to be moderate to high: emotional symptoms (¦Á = .73), conduct problems (¦Á = .78), hyperactivity (¦Á = .84), peer problems (¦Á = .78), and prosocial behaviour (¦Á = .63). Results show that the SDQ has satisfactory psychometric properties in a population of Croatian preschool children and can be used for measuring well-being and mental health dimensions in these children
%K preschool children
%K reliability
%K Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
%K validity
%K mental health
%U https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=285835