Direct assessment of behavioral and emotional problems

New procedures for assessing the behavior of children in an environmental context are available to the school psychologist. The procedures, which are sometimes called psychosituational or informal assessments, examine the influence of the external environment as setting the occasion for emotional and behavioral problems. Covert speech of children also is viewed as an event which can occasion behavioral problems and can serve to reinforce and/or punish the behavior. Procedures are outlined for conducting the direct assessment.     

Schools and emotional and behavioral problems: A comparison of school-going and homeschooled children

Much attention has been focused recently on the deepening crisis in the education system. Researchers have attributed these problems to the school environment. One method for examining this claim is to compare specific emotional and behavior problems among children who attend schools and children who do not. This study examined three aspects of children's emotional world—emotional and behavioral problems, depression, and attachment security—in a group of children attending school and a group of homeschooled children, matched for socioeconomic background and research procedure. The findings indicated a lower level of depression among the homeschooled children; no difference was found between the groups in attachment security. With respect to emotional and behavioral problems, no difference was found in internalizing problems, but more externalizing problems were found among the school-going than the homeschooled children, in 9–10-year-olds and 11–12-year-olds, but not in 6–8-year-olds.     

An evaluation of the special needs referral process for low-income preschool children with emotional and behavioral problems

The present study is an evaluation of the special needs referral system in a large urban Head Start program. To assess the validity of this system, two assessments were conducted. The first examined a representative sample of 105 children who were formally referred for special needs services. The Early Intervention Screening Profile (EISP) was used to indicate the distribution of problem behaviors of these special needs children. Two independent raters evaluated all cases. Reliable evaluations revealed that all of the referred children displayed speech and language problems, with 70% showing only speech problems and 30% showing speech plus emotional and behavioral problems. The second assessment examined reports of teachers’ concerns about children program-wide by obtaining a representative sample of 203 children nominated by teachers as most likely to be identified as having special needs. Teachers completed a modified EISP. Results indicated that over 70% of the children evidenced emotional and behavioral problems with no accompanying speech difficulties and 30% displayed emotional and behavioral problems plus speech problems. Implications of referral biases were discussed.     

幼儿情绪与行为问题调查研究

幼儿情绪与行为是幼儿成熟的重要标志,其心理行为发展具有定向性和程序性,情绪诱发幼儿的行为。因此,遵从感知运动到情绪的发展,从幼儿情绪动机到各种能力的发展,从直觉行动思维到形象思维的发展,通过对儿童的情绪和行为发育进行评估,能够提供儿童早期发展的针对性建议;同时通过提高育儿技能,教会成人与幼儿交流和游戏方式,帮助培养孩子良好的情绪情感、社会适应能力和学习技能等,促进幼儿健康、和谐、全面发展。     

Multidimensional assessment of emotional and behavioral adjustment problems of low-income preschool children: development and initial validation

The Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention (ASPI) was developed and tested for use in preschool programs serving low-income children. The ASPI is a measure of emotional and behavioral adjustment problems observed within routine classroom situations. Principal components analyses revealed five reliable behavioral dimensions: Aggressive, Withdrawn-Low Energy, Socially Reticent, Oppositional, and Inattentive/Hyperactive and two higher-order dimensions: Overactive and Underactive problem behaviors. Concurrent criterion validity of these dimensions was supported by multivariate indicators of peer social competence and classroom behavior problems. Age and gender analyses indicated that boys showed higher levels of overactive behavior than girls and that younger preschool children evidenced more underactive and inattentive behavior than older preschool children. Situational analyses indicated that situations requiring more initiation and self-regulation were associated with more problematic behaviors.     

An empirical analysis of behavioral and emotional problems of foster children as related to re-placement in care

Foster care is seen as a temporary service. However, for many children, foster care involves years of long term care. Most professionals feel that if a child must remain in care, the number of foster homes or re-placements the child experiences should be minimized. Evidence suggests that this lack of stability has a detrimental effect on the child's psychosocial development. Even though the research evidence supports the negative impact of re-placement on the foster child, little empirical research has dealt with identification of factors associated with children likely to be re-placed. This article focuses on foster children with behavioral and emotional problems and analyzes the association of these problems with placement stability and continuity. The findings report that children with behavioral and emotional problems are replaced in foster care more often than those children without similar problems.     

Association between psychosocial stressors with emotional and behavioral problems among children of low-income addicted families living in Brazil

BackgroundChildren exposed to substance use in their families are vulnerable to multiple risk factors in their development and at increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems. The aims of the study were as follows 1) estimate the prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems among children aged 6–11 years old, living with addicted family members in a low-income urban community of São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil; 2) evaluate the children’s exposure to family psychosocial stressors and substance use; and 3) investigate the factors related to the increased risk of emotional and behavioral problems and substance use.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 101 children aged 6–11 years old (M = 9.16 years, SD = 1.61). The instruments used were a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Psychosocial Stress Factors (PSF).ResultsHigh prevalence of problems was found for this sample: the CBCL showed 26.7% of clinical scores for Internalizing Problems, 40.6% for Externalizing Problems, and 40.6% for Total Problems. Exposure to family psychosocial stressors was also high, including severe disease (33%), physical aggression (28.9%), death (27.8%), psychiatric hospitalization (16.7%), suicide attempts (15.5%), and suicide (9.3%). Exposure to these family stressors was associated with an increase of two to four times in the prevalence of internalizing and externalizing problems.ConclusionsChildren exposed to substance abusers have more mental health problems than general population, even when compared to peers living in similar low-income areas. This is a group that should be target of a selective preventive intervention.     

Teachers' perceptions of the emotional and behavioral functioning of children raised by grandparents

Increasing numbers of grandparents are becoming full‐time surrogate parents to their grandchildren. Grandparents who raise their grandchildren reportedly endure high levels of stress, and grandchildren purportedly experience childhood trauma that can lead to poor psychological adjustment. While anecdotal reports have suggested that grandchildren experience significant behavioral problems, there is a dearth of data to empirically support this view. This research was an initial endeavor to ascertain whether teachers perceive children raised by grandparents as exhibiting serious emotional and behavioral problems. Fifty‐four African American children raised by their grandparents and a comparison group of 54 African American children living with their parents were studied to determine the grandchildren's functioning. Teachers perceived the children raised by their grandparents as experiencing significantly more emotional and behavioral problems than their similar schoolmates. Children in these families appear in need of school‐based intervention services. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 565–572, 2006.     

The behavioral and emotional problems of former unaccompanied refugee children 3-4 years after their return to Vietnam

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the behavioral and emotional problems of former unaccompanied refugee children who had repatriated to Vietnam from refugee centers in Hong Kong and South East Asia. The children were compared with a matched sample of children who had never left Vietnam. METHOD: The participants consisted of 455 Vietnamese children aged between 10 and 22 years; 238 of the children had formerly resided in refugee camps without their parents. Data were collected using the Achenbach Youth Self-Report, the Cowen Perceived Self-Efficacy scale, a Social Support scale as well as an Exposure to Trauma scale. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the two groups of children on the YSR Total Score. The former refugee children had significantly lower Externalizing scores and failed marginally to report significantly higher Internalizing scores than the local children. The study showed that the perceived self-efficacy, number of social supports and experience of social support did not differ between the two groups of children. Further analysis showed that a significant interaction between the immigration status of the children and the children's subjective perception of their current standard of living explained the differences in the YSR. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the experience of living without parents in a refugee camp does not lead to increased behavioral and emotional problems in the immediate years after repatriation.     

Gender differences in the association between emotional maltreatment with mental,emotional, and behavioral problems in Swedish adolescents

Emotional maltreatment is a common form of child abuse with a powerful negative impact on mental health. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of emotional maltreatment on mental health and mental well-being in a general population of Swedish 12- to 13-year old girls and boys. Data was collected via self-report questionnaires in classroom settings from 1134 students. Emotional maltreatment had significant effects on mental health and mental well-being for both girls and boys. Moreover, there were significant interaction effects between gender and levels of emotional maltreatment. Girls reported decreased mental health and mental well-being at lower degrees of emotional maltreatment compared to boys. Furthermore, girls reported larger decreases in mental health in response to exposure of emotional maltreatment. For internalizing symptoms, mental well-being and psychosomatic symptoms, exposure level of emotional maltreatment seemed to magnify the gender differences. For externalizing symptoms, there were no differences between girls and boys in the group reporting no emotional maltreatment and the increase in externalizing symptoms were of equal magnitude for both genders. Given the impact of emotional maltreatment on mental health in the general population, results from this study implies that a trauma-informed perspective is necessary in understanding gender differences in mental health in early adolescence. Further research is needed in order to understand the underlying processes generating the differences in girls and boys responses to emotional maltreatment.     

A longitudinal study of the effects of chronic maltreatment on children's behavioral and emotional problems

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present longitudinal study was to examine the links between chronicity of maltreatment and child behavioral and emotional problems. METHOD: Forty-nine maltreated children (32 victims of continuous, or chronic, maltreatment; 17 victims of transitory maltreatment) and their mothers were evaluated in their homes three times over a period of 6 years: at the time of recruitment (T1), 3 years following the initial evaluation (T2) and 6 years following the initial evaluation (T3). The home visits were designed to obtain longitudinal assessments of different types of behavioral and emotional problems in the children, and of the mothers' self-reported potential for abuse to help determine the chronic/transitory aspect of the maltreatment situation. Child Protection Services (CPS) files were also consulted at each assessment time in order to obtain more accurate information regarding the chronic/transitory aspect of the maltreatment situation. RESULTS: The results show that over time the victims of chronic maltreatment (Chronic group; CH) had significantly more emotional problems (i.e., Anxiety/Depression) than those victims of transitory maltreatment (Transitory group; TR). There was also a tendency for CH children to exhibit more aggressive behavior and social withdrawal problems than the children in the TR group. Furthermore, at T3, the proportion of children in the CH group showing a clinical level of behavior problems in general was significantly higher than in the TR group. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms that there are differences among maltreated children in levels of behavior and emotional problems and shows that chronicity must be taken into consideration in order to identify more clearly the impact of maltreatment on the child. Chronically maltreated children appear to be at high-risk for developing clinical levels of problems. The results also suggest that intervention efforts resulting in an improvement of the family situation (i.e., reduction or elimination of maltreatment), also lead to an improvement in the behavior of children.     

Racial and emotional factors predicting teachers' perceptions of classroom behavioral maladjustment for urban African American male youth

The present study investigated the predictive influence of students' reactive emotional coping and racial socialization experiences on teachers' perceptions of classroom behavior adjustment problems. Participants were 148 African American male youth attending a secondary school in a large northeastern city. Behavioral outcomes included teacher ratings of student behavioral overactivity in different classroom situations. Results using hierarchical regression analyses show that measures of social rejection sensitivity, anger expression, and racial socialization predict teacher‐observed behavioral overactivity, with overt anger expression being the most powerful predictor. Findings suggest that racial socialization and particular styles of emotional coping are important determinants for teachers' impressions of classroom behavior for some African American adolescent males. Implications for future research and interventions with African American male youth in urban secondary schools are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Behavior problems in blind children and youth: A prevalence study

The Behavior Problem Checklist (Quay & Peterson, 1979) was completed by classroom teachers for 104 children and youth (64 boys and 40 girls) at a state residential school for the blind to determine the prevalence of problem behavior. Results were compared to earlier studies of behavior problems of nonhandicapped children and of two groups of hearing-impaired children, one living at home and attending a community program and a second group attending a state residential school. Results were more similar to those obtained with the hearing-impaired children in the residential setting than to either the nonhandicapped or the hearing-impaired living at home. Comparisons by sex failed to find statistically significant differences.     

An investigation of preschool classroom behavioral adjustment problems and social–emotional school readiness competencies

The study examined the unique relationship between multiple dimensions of classroom behavioral adjustment problems and salient social–emotional competencies for urban Head Start children. These relationships were investigated using a hierarchical model that controlled for the variance in social–emotional outcomes attributed to age, gender, and verbal ability. Classroom behavioral adjustment problems were assessed early in the year by the Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention (ASPI) across multiple, routine preschool classroom situations. Outcomes assessed at the end of the year included emotion regulation, peer play in the home and neighborhood context, and approaches to learning. Socially negative behavior in the classroom predicted emotional lability, maladaptive learning behaviors, and disruptive social play in the home at the end of the year. Withdrawn behavior uniquely predicted lower affective engagement in the classroom and disconnection from peers in the home context. Findings provide predictive validity for the ASPI. Implications for policy, practice and future research are discussed.     

Feedback practices in a sample of children with emotional and/or behavioral difficulties

Abstract

This study examined two aspects of feedback in a population of children displaying emotional and/or behavioral difficulties. The study explored the agreement in teachers' and children's reports of positive and corrective feedback, as well as the role of teachers' beliefs concerning the child's sensitivity to feedback. Teachers' sensitivity ratings were positively correlated with teachers' reports of positive feedback, indicating that teachers may give differential feedback based on the teachers' perceptions of the child's sensitivity to feedback rather than specifically on performance indicators. Discrepancies between teachers' and children's reports of feedback were also evident. Given the critical role of feedback in the academic and social adjustment of children with emotional and/or behavioral difficulties, implications of feedback practices are explored.     

Mediating effects of teacher and peer relationships between parental abuse/neglect and emotional/behavioral problems

The current study examined the mediating effects of the teacher and peer relationships between parental abuse/neglect and a child’s emotional/behavioral problems. A total of 2070 student surveys from the panel of the Korean Child Youth Panel Study (KCYPS) were analyzed by path analysis. The key findings of this study are outlined below. Firstly, parental physical and emotional abuse and neglect had significant effects on children’s problems. The direct effect of parental abuse on emotional/behavioral problems was higher than the direct effect of parental neglect on emotional/behavioral problems. Secondly, the teacher relationship partially mediated the effects of the parental abuse/neglect on emotional/behavioral problems. Thirdly, the peer relationship also partially mediated the effects of parental abuse/neglect on children’s emotional/behavioral problems. The indirect effect of parental neglect via teacher relationships and peer relationships was stronger than the indirect effect of parental abuse. This study is significant in that it identified that parental abuse/neglect was mediated by the teacher and peer relationship, thereby suggesting an implication for effective intervention with children who have suffered abuse and neglect. In terms of the teacher and peer relationship, understanding the influence of parental abuse and neglect on children’s problems was discussed, and the limitations and recommendations for future study were suggested.     

Psychological maltreatment,emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents: The mediating role of resilience and self-esteem

In this study, structural equation modeling was used to examine the mediating role of resilience and self-esteem in the relationships between psychological maltreatment-emotional problems and psychological maltreatment-behavioral problems in adolescents. Participants were 937 adolescents from different high schools in Turkey. The sample included 502 female (53.6%) and 435 male (46.4%) students, 14–19 years old (mean age = 16.51, SD = 1.15). Results indicated that psychological maltreatment was negatively correlated with resilience and self-esteem, and positively correlated with behavioral problems and emotional problems. Resilience and self-esteem also predicted behavioral problems and emotional problems. Finally, psychological maltreatment predicted emotional and behavioral problems mediated by resilience and self-esteem. Resilience and self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between psychological maltreatment-behavioral and psychological maltreatment-emotional problems in adolescents. Thus, resilience and self-esteem appear to play a protective role in emotional problems and behavioral problems in psychologically maltreated individuals. Implications are discussed and suggestions for psychological counselors and other mental health professionals are presented.     

School psychologist assessment practices in the evaluation of students referred for social/behavioral/emotional problems

The current study examined the assessment strategies school psychologists used in their everyday assessment routine in the evaluation of students referred for social/behavioral/emotional problems. A stratified, random, national sample of 1,000 members of the National Association of School Psychologists were sent surveys; 667 completed surveys were returned, and 648 were included in the current study (64.8%). Findings indicated that, although measures of intelligence, achievement, and perceptual‐motor skills continue to remain a part of the assessment process, structured interviews, direct observation, and behavior rating scales and checklists also are frequently used methods of assessment. In addition, the majority of experienced practitioners indicated that their use of behavioral assessment had increased and that it was valuable in linking assessment to intervention. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 551–561, 2004.