Influences on Teacher Referral of Children to Mental Health Services

Abstract

Sixty-four third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade teachers read vignettes describing boys and girls with (1) externalizing and internalizing disorders and (2) externalizing and internalizing problems of less severity. Teachers rated whether the child described in each vignette needed to be referred for mental health treatment and indicated whether they had referred a similar child for treatment. Teachers' ratings of need for referral did not differ for boys and girls, and there was no gender effect on the teachers' reported referral experience. However, teachers reported having referred more children with externalizing problems than with internalizing problems for treatment, even though they did not rate externalizing problems as needing referral more than internalizing problems. Such discrepancies are discussed in terms of the different effect of internalizing and externalizing problems on the classroom environment.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach, T.M. , & Edelbrock, C.S. (1981). Behavioral problems and competencies reported by parents of normal and disturbed children aged 4–16. Monographs of Social Research on Child Development, 4.

Achenbach, T.M. , & Edelbrock, C.S. (1986). Manual for the Teacher's Report Form and teacher version of the Child Behavior Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.

Achenbach, T.M. , Howell, C. T. , Quay, H.C. , & Conners, K.C. (1991). National survey of problems and competencies among four- to sixteen-year-olds: Parents' reports for normative and clinical samples. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Developmen., 56 (3, Serial No. 225).

Cohen, N.J. (1989). Sex differences in child psychiatric outpatients: Cognitive, personality, and behavioral characteristics. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 20, 113–121.

James, A. , & Taylor, E. (1990). Sex differences in the hyperkinetic syndrome of childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31, 437–446.

Lurie, O.R. (1974). Parents' attitudes toward children's problems and toward use of mental health services: Sociometric differences. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 44, 109–120.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1987). Sex differences in unipolar depression: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 259–282.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. , Girgus, J.S. , & Seligman, M.E.P. (1986). Sex differences in depressive symptoms in children. Unpublished manuscript, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Offord, D.R. , Boyle, M.H. , Szatmari, P. , Rai-Grant, N.I. , Links, P.S. , Cadman, D. T. , Byles, J.A. , Crawford, J.W. , Blum, H.M. , Byrne, C. , Thomas, H. , & Woodward, C.A. (1987). Ontario child health study: II. Six-month prevalence of disorder and rates of service utilization. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 832–836.

10.

SAS Institute Inc. (1985). SAS user's guide: Statistics, version 5 edition. Cary, NC: Author.

11.

Serbin, L.A. , O'Leary, K.D. , Kent, R.N. , & Tonick, I.J. (1973). A comparison of teacher response to the preacademic and problem behavior of boys and girls. Child Development, 44, 796–804.

12.

Walker, E. , Bettes, B. , & Ceci, S. (1984). Teachers' assumptions regarding the severity, causes, and outcomes of behavioral problems in preschoolers: Implications for referral. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 899–902.

13.

Weisz, J.R. , Suwanlert, S. , Chaiyasit, W. , Weiss, B. , Achenbach, T.M. , & Walter, B.R. (1987). Epidemiology of behavioral and emotional problems among Thai and American children: Parent reports for ages 6 to 11. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 890–897.