| An invaluable source of information to identify behavior problems for children at risk may be the children's elementary school teachers. This dissertation study assessed elementary school teachers' ability to identify children with problem behaviors (i.e., depression, overt aggression, or relational aggression) in a group setting similar to real life school situations. It also measured how likely the teachers were to refer boys versus girls with problem behaviors for professional help.; The 56 female and 2 male participating teachers viewed a videotape of five children, either all girls or all boys (randomly assigned), interacting together in three classroom settings (i.e., working on a classroom project, playing on the computer, and conversing during snack time) rather than one child being interviewed on a videotape or reading vignettes as in previous studies. Three child actors portrayed children with problem behaviors (i.e., depressed, overtly aggressive, and relationally aggressive) and two child actors portrayed a normative-nonvictim, or normative victim (victim of the children portraying the relationally aggressive and overtly aggressive children) role for one set of videos. All five of the children switched roles for another set of videos to control for characteristics of the child actors that may have influenced teacher ratings. After viewing a randomly assigned videotape of the three scenarios, teachers rated each child on having a problem behavior and needing a referral to a professional. Data indicated that 96% of the teachers were able to identify the depressed behaviors, 75% the normative-victim, 74% the overtly aggressive, 61% the relationally aggressive, and 60% the normative-nonvictim behaviors. Teachers who correctly identified the behaviors as problematic were also likely to refer the children to professionals. ANOVAs indicated that teachers generally considered depressed and overtly aggressive behaviors to be more problematic and in need of referrals to a professional than relationally aggressive and normative-type behaviors. Gender of the child was not an influential factor in forming impressions and making referrals.; Teachers should be considered an invaluable source of information regarding children's depressive and overtly aggressive behaviors. However, teachers need more education on relational aggression to provide help to these at-risk children. |
