The association between problematic school behaviours and social and emotional development in children seeking mental health treatment

ABSTRACT Problematic and disruptive behaviours continue to be a pervasive problem in elementary school classrooms across the globe, with recent reports indicating rising trends. The present study seeks to describe a unique sample of children who are seeking mental health services and present with specific problematic school behaviours. Preliminary analyses were conducted to provide a descriptive understanding of the demographic characteristics of the sample of children. Comparative analyses were conducted to investigate the social and emotional functioning of children who engage in minimal problematic school behaviours and children who engage in more severe and frequent problematic school behaviours. Findings indicate significant between-group differences for conduct problems, hyperactivity-inattention, and peer relationship problems. Implications and possible suggestions are discussed regarding how key stakeholders can make use of these findings within their school contexts.

摘要 问题行为和破坏性行为在全球各地的小学课堂中仍然是一个普遍存在的问题，近期报告显示有上升趋势。本研究旨在描述一个独特的儿童样本，这些儿童正在寻求心理健康服务并且表现出特定的学校问题行为。进行了初步分析，以便对儿童样本的人口统计学特征有一个描述性的了解。进行了比较分析，以研究那些问题学校行为极少的儿童和那些问题学校行为更严重且更频繁的儿童的社交和情感功能。研究结果表明，在行为问题、多动 - 注意力不集中以及同伴关系问题方面，组间存在显著差异。讨论了关键利益相关者如何在其学校环境中利用这些研究结果的启示和可能的建议。