Assessing the p factor in children: an exploration of the feasibility of the Strenghts and Difficulties Questionnaire

Abstract

[eng] Recent investigations highlighted the need of a psychopathological model that could explain the high comorbidities and covariation between psychological disorders since the traditional psychiatric nosologies resulted unsatisfactory to do so. Initially, a two-factor model emerged explaining psychopathology based on two latent factors: internalizing and externalizing problems. However, substantial association was found between these two factors, which led to a bifactor model in which, in addition to these two factors, another one was added, called the General Factor of Psychopathology (p factor). The p factor reflects systematic covariation across the entire gamut of psychiatric problems. To the day, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) has been the most used questionnaire to assess the adequacy of the bifactor model and detect behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents. Along the same lines, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a 25-item brief behavioral screening questionnaire that can be completed by parents from 2-17 years old children. Previous work has proven the effectiveness of the SDQ to detect internalizing and externalizing problems but less is known about its adequacy, in comparison to the CBCL, to assess the p factor. The main aim of the present study was to conduct a Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) to compare the fit of two models (first-order bifactor model and higher-order or hierarchical model) through both SDQ and CBCL. In this study, parents completed the SDQ and CBCL on 284 children aged 6 through 12 drawn from multiple primary schools in Mallorca, Balearic Islands. Fit indices from the CFA show that a first-order bifactor model fits best for both SDQ and CBCL and sheds light on the SDQ as a more efficient option to assess the p factor in children.