Drinking behaviour and emotional and behavioural problems (SALSUS)

The Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) is a continuation of a long established series of national surveys on smoking, drinking and drug use. These were carried out jointly in Scotland and England between 1982 and 2000, to provide a national picture of young peoples' smoking (from 1982), drinking (from 1990), and drug use (from 1998) behaviours within the context of other lifestyle, health and social factors. Since 2002, Scotland has developed its own, more tailored survey, known as SALSUS. SALSUS is a self-completion survey of 13 and 15 year olds administered in school by teachers in a mixed ability class, under exam conditions. The 2018 survey was the last SALSUS in its existing format. For more information, including the technical details visit the Scottish Government website.


Emotional and Behavioural Problems

The 'Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire' (SDQ) was designed by Robert Goodman (1997) and is widely used by researchers, clinicians and education professionals. This measure of emotional and behavioural problems has been included in SALSUS since 2006. The questionnaire comprises 25 items that are grouped into 5 scales, with each scale including 5 questions. The scales are:

\u2022 emotional symptoms (5 items)

\u2022 conduct problems (5 items)

\u2022 hyperactivity/inattention (5 items)

\u2022 peer relationship problems (5 items)

\u2022 pro-social behaviour (5 items)

Overall scores were calculated for each of the five scales by summing the scores for all items within each scale. Total difficulties scores were also calculated as an overall measure of emotional and behavioural problems by summing the scores for emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity and peer problems, but excluding scores for pro-social behaviour.