Classroom Behavior of Students With or At Risk of EBD: Student Gender Affects Teacher Ratings But Not Direct Observations

Abstract

As the field moves toward adaptive and individualized behavior intervention, it is important to identify and consider relevant student characteristics as potential levers (i.e., critical factors) for improving intervention effectiveness. Motivated by previous findings suggesting that behavioral profiles and teachers’ perceptions of students with problem behavior vary by student gender, we evaluated gender differences in teacher ratings and direct observations of classroom problem behavior for elementary students with or at risk of emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD; N = 352). We found significant gender differences for teacher ratings of problem behavior, social skills, and academic competence. However, we did not find significant differences between male and female students on direct observation measures of behavior or reading skills. These findings provide evidence suggesting that student gender may be a critical factor in addressing classroom problem behavior. Future work in this area will help guide researchers and practitioners in considering how student gender and related teachers’ perceptions may inform intervention selection and implementation for students with or at risk of EBD.

A Systematic Review of Characteristics of Students With Emotional Disturbance in Special Education Research

“…Gender, though underrepresented in terms of a focal point of study, is a potentially important factor in the development of problem behavior. This may result in students with or at risk of emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD) displaying characteristics that differ based on gender (Sheaffer et al, 2021). For example, females are more likely to initiate problem behavior during adolescence than childhood whereas males tend to discontinue problem behavior after adolescents (Silverthorn & Frick, 1999).…”

“…In contrast, Carrero et al (2017) found that demographic sampling represented a higher percentage of males (71%) than females (29%). This may be because females are more likely to engage in internalizing behaviors (e.g., depression or anxiety) and display antisocial behavior that is often motivated by interpersonal conflict and relational aggression (Kann & Hanna, 2000; Sheaffer et al, 2021; Young et al, 2010). Females, especially Black females, are noted to engage in more “adult”-like behaviors, making the females appear to be more independent and needing less nurturing than males (Epstein et al, 2017).…”

Predictive Role of Classroom Management in Literacy Development in Preschool Children at Risk of EBD

“…This pattern converges with previous studies that have reported lower literacy performance for boys than girls with EBD. However, measurement may play an important role, as teachers have demonstrated bias in favor of boys in ratings of social skills and achievement in samples of students with or at risk of EBD (Sheaffer et al, 2020). This has implications for research, as future studies that prospectively aim to study gender differences in literacy outcomes should include multiple measures of literacy that have been shown to be associated (or not associated) with gender in previous studies.…”

Influence of Child Externalizing Behavior on Friendship Centrality and Reciprocity in Kindergarten Classrooms

“…Literature on associations between language skills, problem behavior, and peer interactions guide our assumption that the negative relations between child externalizing problems, centrality, and reciprocity will be magnified for children who also experience challenges with language skills (Chen et al, 2020a). Our gender-based analyses were exploratory given the mixed findings on the relation between gender and child externalizing problem behavior (e.g., Sheaffer et al, 2021). Furthermore, given that age has been previously shown to be predictive of network status (e.g., Locke et al, 2013), we include this exploratory analysis to contribute to this body of literature.…”