Table 2.

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores for custodial grandchildren and for a normative sample of children from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey^a

	Normative		Custodial
Group and SDQ scaleb	M	SD	M	SD	t	df	Standardized effect size	95 % CI
	All grandchildrenc
	Total difficulties	7.1	5.7	12.1	7.9	16.81	789	.85	.77–.93
Emotional symptoms	1.6	1.8	2.6	2.5	10.63	789	.54	.46–.61
Conduct problems	1.3	1.6	2.6	2.4	14.43	781	.78	.70–.86
Hyperactivity or inattention	2.8	2.5	4.4	3.0	14.08	809	.63	.55–.71
Peer problems	1.4	1.5	2.4	2.1	12.66	788	.65	.57–.72
Prosocial behavior	8.6	1.8	7.6	2.2	12.01	806	.55	.47–.62
Boysd
Total difficulties	7.5	5.9	13.1	8.1	12.56	365	.92	.81–1.03
Emotional symptoms	1.4	1.8	2.6	2.5	8.73	365	.65	.54–.76
Conduct problems	1.4	1.7	2.8	2.4	10.61	364	.80	.69–.91
Hyperactivity or inattention	3.2	2.6	5.0	3.1	10.49	374	.68	.57–.79
Peer problems	1.5	1.6	2.7	2.2	9.50	363	.73	.62–.84
Prosocial behavior	8.4	1.9	7.4	2.2	8.20	376	.52	.41–.63
Girlse
Total difficulties	6.6	5.3	11.1	7.6	11.48	421	.82	.71–.92
Emotional symptoms	1.7	1.9	2.6	2.5	6.96	427	.46	.36–.56
Conduct problems	1.2	1.5	2.4	2.4	9.73	415	.76	.65–.86
Hyperactivity or inattention	2.4	2.3	3.9	2.9	9.98	430	.64	.53–.74
Peer problems	1.3	1.5	2.2	2.0	8.70	426	.58	.48–.69
Prosocial behavior	8.8	1.6	7.8	2.1	9.20	427	.61	.50–.71

^ap<.001 for all entries

^bPossible scores for the total difficulties scale range from 0 to 40. Possible scores for all other SDQ subscales range from 0 to 10. For all SDQ scales, higher scores indicate greater levels of the measured construct.

^cN=9,878 grandchildren for the normative sample and N=733 grandchildren for the custodial sample.

^dN=5,080 boys for the normative sample and N=342 boys for the custodial sample.

^eN=4,978 girls for the normative sample and N=391 girls for the custodial sample.