Skip to main content
The SDQ is the world’s most-used brief adolescent mental-health screen. Twenty-five short statements, five subscales, and a separate prosocial score that gives you a strength index alongside the difficulty totals. This is the self-report version for clients aged 11-17.

​
What it measures

Five 5-item subscales across the six months leading up to today (or the current school year):
  • Emotional symptoms — worry, somatic complaints, low mood, fears
  • Conduct problems — temper, fighting, lying, taking things
  • Hyperactivity — restlessness, fidgeting, distractibility, impulse
  • Peer problems — solitude, friendships, being picked on
  • Prosocial behaviour — kindness, sharing, helping, volunteering
The first four feed a Total Difficulties score. The Prosocial subscale is reported on its own as a strength index — higher is better and it doesn’t add to the difficulties total.

​
When to use it

  • Intake with any client 11-17, especially when you want a wide-angle read before drilling into a specific area
  • As a pre-treatment baseline when the presenting concerns span more than one domain (e.g. anxious teen who’s also struggling socially)
  • Periodic re-administration through a course of work to track which subscale is shifting

​
How clients fill it out

Five minutes self-administered. The wording is plain — “I worry a lot”, “I am restless, I cannot stay still for long” — which makes it comfortable for younger adolescents.

​
How Rivet scores it

Each item rates 0-2 (Not true / Somewhat true / Certainly true). Five items are reverse-scored — Rivet handles the inversion automatically inside the answer options, so you just read the per-subscale and total numbers.

​
Subscales

​
Total Difficulties

Sum of Emotional + Conduct + Hyperactivity + Peer (20 items, range 0-40). Prosocial is not included — it’s reported separately. These three bands are the standard self-report 11-17 classification published at sdqinfo.org.

​
Which variant Rivet uses

Rivet uses the self-report 11-17 variant. The parent (4-17) and teacher (4-17) variants of the SDQ exist with different cutoffs; those aren’t in the library. If you need parent or teacher report, use the freely available form at sdqinfo.org and consult youthinmind.com for cutoffs.

​
SDQ vs RCADS

The SDQ is broad and short; the RCADS is narrow and thorough. Twenty-five items across emotional symptoms, conduct, hyperactivity, peer problems and prosocial behaviour means the SDQ will surface almost any kind of difficulty, including the ones you weren’t looking for — and it is the only measure here that reports a strength rather than only problems. What it won’t do is tell you which anxiety disorder you’re looking at. The RCADS will. Forty-seven items produce six subscales covering separation anxiety, social phobia, generalized anxiety, panic, OCD and depression, which is what you want once anxiety is the question. They also differ in who answers. Rivet’s SDQ is the self-report form for ages 11–17 — the young person’s own account. The RCADS here is the parent-report form for ages 6–18. Those are genuinely different perspectives and disagreement between them is information, not error. Broad screen first, RCADS when the picture narrows to mood and anxiety.

​
Is it free to use?

Yes. Free clinical use, per sdqinfo.org. Registration is requested as a courtesy rather than a condition.

​
Citation

Goodman, R. (1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38(5), 581-586. Free clinical use per sdqinfo.org (registration courtesy-requested).

PHQ-A

Adolescent depression screen when the SDQ Emotional subscale comes back high.

RCADS (parent 6-18)

Deeper anxiety + depression detail when you have a parent informant.

SNAP-IV

Targeted ADHD + ODD rating when SDQ Hyperactivity or Conduct lights up.