Analysis of response of 621 8-12 Beijing primary school children to a Chinese version of the Self-Description Questionnaire-1 (SDQ, Marsh, 1988) generally supported the reliability and validity of the SDQ. The scale internal consistency reliability coefficients were very adequate and factor analysis affirmed the within-construct validity of the SDQ-1. Morevoer little evidence was found of the influence of irrelevant response tendencies and teachers' ratings of characteristics of the children correlated with their self-esteem scale scores as expected.