Using Multiple Reporters of Problem Behavior to Predict Clinical Referral of Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Ratings of behavioral and emotional problems at the start of a school year were used to predict referral for mental health assistance. Participants were 63 11- to 16-year-old adolescents with learning disabilities who attended a residential school. Reports of problem behavior consisted of internalizing and externalizing behavior on the parent and teacher reports of the Child Behavior Checklist, ADHD behaviors on the home and school forms of the Children's Attention and Adjustment Survey, and depressive symptoms on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Students referred for mental health services had higher scores than adolescents not referred on teacher ratings of externalizing behavior, inattention, and conduct problems, as well as self-reports of depressive symptomatology, and were more likely to have scored above clinical cutoff scores on the first two measures as well as on parent reports of internalizing behaviors. There were correlations in the various kinds of problem behavior rated by teachers, parent ratipigs were also intercorrelated, and CDI ratings correlated with both teacher and parent ratings of internalizing behavior. However, situational specificity was demonstrated by an absence of relations between any reports by parents and teachers. Discussion focused on the use of screening measures in learning-disabled populations, as well as unique features of the current setting that may have influenced teacher reports of behavior.

Des classements de problèmes comportementals et émotionnels au début de l'année scolaire ont été utilisés pour prédire le recours ultérieur à des soins de santé mentale. Soixante-trois adolescents entre 11 et 16 ans ayant des problèmes d'apprentissage et qui frequentaient un milieu scolaire residentiel ont participé à cette recherche. Les comptes rendus de comportement consistaient en: comportement intériorisant et extériorisant évalué par les parents et les enseignants (Child Behavior Checklist); une mesure d'inattention, d'impulsivité, and et d'hyperactivité évalué à l'école et à la maison (Children's Attention and Adjustment Survey); et un inventaire de symptômes de depression (Children's Depression Inventory). Les étudiants qui ont été dirigé vers les services de santé mentale avaient des scores plus élevés sur les évaluations des professeurs de comportement extériorisant, inattention, troubles de conduite, et rapports de symptomatologie de dépression que les autres étudiants. Ces étudiants risquaient aussi d'obtenir des scores en haut de la démarcation des scores cliniques sur les deux premiers mesures, aussi que les reportages d'intériorisation des parents. Les résultats obtenus démontrent des corrélations entre les problèmes comportementales et rapports des professeurs. Les rapports des parents étaient aussi en corrélation, et les classements CDI étaient reliés avec les classements d'intériorisation des parents et professeurs. La présence d'une spécificíté situationelle a été démontré, étant donnée l'absence de relations entre aucun des rapports de parents et d'enseignants. La discussion porte sur l'emploi des mesures d'évaluation chez les enfants qui présentent des difficultés d'apprentissage ainsi que sur les facettes uniques du présent contexte qui ont pu avoir influencé les rapports de comportement des enseignants.

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