Severity of Socially and Emotionally Disturbed Boys' Dysfunction at School and Home: Comparison with Psychiatric and General Population Boys

Abstract

Boys aged 6 to 11 years recommended for SED placement were investigated with the Teacher's Report Form and the parent Child Behavior Checklist to determine their severity of dysfunction in both school and home environments. Their scores were also compared with the scores of outpatient and inpatient groups of boys with psychiatric disorders, and a general population sample of boys, all groups from the same geographic area. The teacher ratings for the SED boys were generally mean T scores of 68 or greater, ranked highest among the four groups, and were significantly higher than the outpatient and general population groups. Their parents' ratings were generally mean T scores of 65 or greater, were second in severity to the ratings for the inpatient boys, and were significantly greater than the general population group. Thus, serious degrees of dysfunction were found for these SED boys in both environments.