Mental Health and Lifestyle Survey: What Has Become Clear (4/5)
- 1. SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire): Respondents reply to each question of a 25-item questionnaire concerning children's moods and behavior during the past six months (such as "Gives due consideration to other's feelings" or "Is restless and cannot stay still for a long time"). This survey covers those aged 4 to 15 to judge whether they need professional support or not.
- Included in this reference material on March 31, 2015
- Updated on March 31, 2021
As an indicator to evaluate children's mental health conditions, SDQ1 is utilized.
Compared with the percentage of children showing an SDQ score over 16 (9.5%) reported in a prior study in Japan (Matsuishi et al., 2008), the percentages of high-risk children were still high for all groups except for girls aged 4 to 6 and elementary school girls in the FY2018 survey.
In the FY2018 survey, percentages of high SDQ scores decreased for all categories compared with the results of the FY2011 survey. However, the improvement slowed down and the percentages remained almost unchanged from those of the FY2012 survey.