Psychometric properties of Turkish version of the strength and difficulties questionnaire for age 2-4; [Güçler ve güçlükler anketinin 2-4 yaş için türkçe versiyonunun psikometrik özellikleri]

Introduction: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for 2–4 year olds (SDQ 2–4) is one of the best of these scales developed to screen children in early childhood for psychosocial problems. The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of SDQ 2–4 in Turkish for the age group of 2–4 years. Methods: The study was conducted with 159 participants. SDQ 2–4 Parent and BITSEA scales were applied to parents. Patients whose scores were detected to be at risk were referred to the hospital and a clinical interview was performed. Results: Chronbach alpha value for total difficulties scale was 0.80. Total difficulties score of the SDQ was positively correlated with the BITSEA/P score, and negatively correlated with the BITSEA/C score. Prosocial Behaviors score of SDQ was positively correlated with BITSEA/C while it was negatively correlated with BITSEA/P. In all scales of SDQ that identified the problem, the scores of the participants with clinical diagnosis were significantly higher than the scores of the participants not diagnosed. The cut-off value for total difficulties scale was calculated as 10 with 80% sensitivity and 88% specificity. Conclusion: The SDQ 2–4 scale is valid and reliable in the Turkish language. © 2019 by Turkish Association of Neuropsychiatry.