Normative data for an Australian clinical sample on the home situations questionnaire - Modified version (HSQ-M)

An extension of the Home Situations Questionnaire is described (HSQ-M), and normative data for an Australian clinical sample are reported. Reports wer e obtained from both female (339) and male (143) informants on 403 children aged between 3 and 12 (287 boys, 116 girls) from nine centres in Sydney. C linicians from these centres predicted the likely findings on the HSQ-M, an d their expectations were not wholly supported by the data. Boys were repor ted to have more problem situations than girls by fathers but not by mother s, and boys were reported as having greater situation severity than girls b y mothers but not by fathers. While these differences were statistically si gnificant, they were not clinically significant. Contrary to expectations, fathers reported similar levels of home situation difficulty to mothers. Th e data provide useful information for targeting situations that would meet the need of parents in parenting groups, and for supplementing the assessme nt tools used by clinicians working with families.