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Footprints in Time children aged 3 years or older at thetime of the wave 3 interview, the data necessary tocreate a total SDQ score were missing for only five, andthe prosocial score was missing for two. Some questionsappeared relatively more difficult for primary carers torespond to: in particular, the question about whether thechild could stop and think things out before acting wasnot completed by 43 primary carers (3.9 per cent) whoindicated that they did not know. Other questions hadlower rates of non-response (less than 1 per cent for 21 outof 25 questions).The average scores are summarised below by cohortand sex of the child. Table 62 shows the average scoresin the four difficulties subscales by cohort. Emotionalsymptoms and peer problems were relatively rare – theaverage scores of around 2 indicate that primary carerson average responded ‘Somewhat true’ to two outof five questions for each of these scales, or ‘Certainlytrue’ to one question. Conduct problems and especiallyhyperactivity were more prevalent in the sample as awhole, with an average score for hyperactivity of 4.6(meaning that primary carers on average responded‘Somewhat true’ to at least four out of five questions inthis scale, or ‘Certainly true’ to two or three out of fivequestions).Table 62: Average scores for difficulties subscales,by cohortDifficulties subscaleB cohort(n=514)K cohort(n=589)Emotional symptoms 2.25 2.42Conduct problems 3.82 2.41Hyperactivity 4.66 4.60Peer problems 2.17 2.06There were no significant differences in emotionalsymptoms, hyperactivity or peer problems betweencohorts. In contrast, the average conduct problemsscore for the younger (B) cohort was much higherthan for the older (K) cohort. However, two of the itemsincluded in conduct problems scale were different forthe two cohorts. The difference for these two items wasquite significant, and the examination of raw responsesindicates that these items contributed the most to cohortdifferences 28 .Because of the significant difference in the conductproblems scores, the overall difficulties score was alsosignificantly lower for the K cohort (Figure 29). This couldpotentially indicate a lower risk of problem behavioursamong the older children but was still driven by thedifferent questions in the conduct problems subscale.Figure 29: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores, by cohort28 Among primary carers of children in the B cohort, 23.0 per cent responded ‘Certainly true’ to the question whether the child ‘is often argumentativewith adults’. For the K cohort, this question was replaced with ‘often lies or cheats’, and only 6.6 per cent of the primary carers indicated that this wascertainly the case. Similarly, 18.6 per cent of primary carers in B cohort responded ‘Certainly true’ when asked if the child ‘can be spiteful to others’,while the replacement question whether the child ‘steals from home, school or elsewhere’ in the K cohort questionnaire attracted only 3.1 per cent ofsuch responses.Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children | Key Summary Report from Wave 373