Epidemiological comparisons of problems and positive qualities reported by adolescents in 24 countries
Date Issued
2007-01-01
Author(s)
Rescorla, Leslie
Achenbach, Thomas M
Ivanova, Masha Y
Dumenci, Levent
Almqvist, Fredrik
Bilenberg, Niels
Bird, Hector
Broberg, Anders
Dobrean, Anca
Döpfner, Manfred
Erol, Nese
Forns, Maria
Hannesdottir, Helga
Kanbayashi, Yasuko
Lambert, Michael C
Leung, Patrick
Minaei, Asghar
Mulatu, Mesfin S
Novik, Torunn S
Oh, Kyung-Ja
Roussos, Alexandra
Sawyer, Michael
Simsek, Zeynep
Weintraub, Sheila
Metzke, Christa Winkler
Wolanczyk, Tomasz
Zilber, Nelly
Zukauskiene, Rita
Verhulst, Frank
DOI
10.1037/0022-006x.75.2.351
Abstract
In this study, the authors compared ratings of behavioral and emotional problems and positive qualities on the Youth Self-Report (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2001) by adolescents in general population samples from 24 countries (N = 27,206). For problem scales, country effect sizes (ESs) ranged from 3% to 9%, whereas those for gender and age ranged from less than 1% to 2%. Scores were significantly higher for girls than for boys on Internalizing Problems and significantly higher for boys than for girls on Externalizing Problems. Bicountry correlations for mean problem item scores averaged .69. For Total Problems, 17 of 24 countries scored within one standard deviation of the overall mean of 35.3. In the 19 countries for which parent ratings were also available, the mean of 20.5 for parent ratings was far lower than the self-report mean of 34.0 in the same 19 countries (d = 2.5). Results indicate considerable consistency across 24 countries in adolescents' self-reported problems but less consistency for positive qualities.