Research and Extension

Abstract

Objective: This study provides normative and clinical levels of problembehaviours from a large community sample of Australian early primaryschool children.Method: From a large community sample (n = 1928) of children aged 5 to10 years (mean = 7.70, SD = 0.89) normative data are provided using theteacher-reported version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire(SDQ). A response rate of 88% ensures the data are representative.Results: Mean scores on total difficulties between this Australiansample and UK norms were comparable. Some differences in the clinicalcut-off scores are evident in the Australian sample, and adjustedclinical cut-offs are provided. Australian teacher reports of problembehaviour revealed lower clinical levels of emotional problems. Boys hadsignificantly greater problems than girls on the Conduct, Hyperactivity,Peer and Prosocial scales. Overall, 5.3% of boys had scores in theclinical range on four of the five subscales. Comparisons of the factorstructure revealed that for boys the Peer scale has two interpretations,with two items loading with Conduct problems and associated with greaterproblem behaviours. For girls, conduct problems are more stronglyassociated with poorer prosocial skills.Conclusions: Teachers are able provide valuable predictive informationon externalizing behaviours. Australian normative comparisons revealminor variations in teacher interpretation of items. The present data isrepresentative of the Australian community and should be used to assessbehaviour difficulties in early primary school children. Future studieson older age children are required to understand the developmentalprogression of problem behaviours in the community.