English abstract
The study aimed at standardizing the Strength & Difficulties Questionnaire for behavioral and emotional disorders (Student's Version) and at studying its psychometric properties on a sample of cycle two students in Al- Batinah South Governorate in Sultanate of Oman. The sample consisted of two groups: normal students in grades (5-10) in basic education schools in the governorate (N=634) and the second group consisted of students who have psychological and behavioral problems (N-182). The two groups were in the age range (10-16) years from both genders in the school year (2015-2016).
The validity of the scale was checked through face validity and discriminative validity. The results revealed the discriminative ability of the scale in light of the diagnostic case. The concurrent validity was checked through the correlation between the current scale and Payrics scale and Social Competency scale. The results showed positive and statistically significant correlation at (a= 0.5) between SDQ scale and Payrics scale. However, there was a negative statistically significant correlation between the current scale and the domains of the Social Competency Scale. The correlation coefficients between the items and the means of the domains they relate to were significant at (a= 0.01). Besides, all means of the domains of SDQ scale correlate significantly at (a= 0.01) with the mean of the difficulties' total score which proves that the items have internal consistency. Moreover, the factorial structure of the scale was explored through exploratory factor analysis. The results showed five domains for SDQ scale and they explain 39.58 of the total variance. The reliability of the scale was examined through alpha Cronbach and Stability (testretest) method and the coefficients were (0.74), and (0.77) respectively which are acceptable coefficient values. Finally, age and gender specific percentiles ranks were derived as norms for raw scores. In light of the above results, a number of recommendations and suggestions were presented.
