Internalizing Behavior of Sociometrically Neglected Students in Inclusive Primary Classrooms – A Methodological Issue?

Abstract

Internalizing problems in children belong to the category of special educational needs called emotional and behavioral difficulties. Recent decades have witnessed a critical discussion about whether children and adolescents experiencing internalizing problems are at risk of being sociometrically neglected (neither liked nor disliked by their peers). Previous studies have shown evidence both for and against the association between internalizing problems and neglected sociometric status. These contradictory results may be due to the following methodological aspects: (1) shortcomings of sociometric status classification methods (arbitrariness of the sociometric classification rules) and (2) different operationalizations of internalizing problems (broadband and narrowband dimensions of behavior). The aim of the present study is to investigate empirically whether and to what extent these methodological aspects lead to contradictory results on the internalizing behavior of neglected students. This question is investigated using a sample of students (N = 2334) in German inclusive primary schools. The systematic investigation presented here provides initial indications that the various methodological approaches can lead to conflicting results. The contradictory results are not only due to the application of different sociometric classification methods, but also to different operationalizations of internalizing behavior (narrowband and broadband scales). Earlier contradictory evidence on the internalizing behavior of neglected students must therefore be seen in a different light: the reasons for previously conflicting results may actually be methodological. Based on the results, conclusions are drawn as to how methodological aspects can be given more consideration in sociometric research on internalizing behavior.

Zur Situation von Grundschülerinnen und Grundschülern mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf im Bereich emotionale und soziale Entwicklung im inklusiven Unterricht

“…Um möglichst differenzierte Einblicke in die Gruppe von Schülerinnen und Schülern mit SPF esE zu erhalten, wurden die externalisierenden und internalisierenden Problematiken über die vier Problemskalen des SDQ erfasst. Grundlegend sind die Problemskalen des SDQ geeignet, um emotionalsoziale Probleme differenziert zu erfassen, allerdings subsumiert die Skala Emotionale Probleme sowohl depressive als auch ängstliche Symptomatiken (Kulawiak et al, 2020), damit werden die internalisierenden Verhaltensweisen also nicht trennscharf erfasst. Hinzu kommt, dass die Genauigkeit des Lehrkrafturteils v. a. bei internalisierenden Verhaltensweisen eingeschränkt ist (Bilz, 2013).…”

Teachers' Accuracy in Estimating Social Inclusion of Students With and Without Special Educational Needs

“…Previous research has inconsistently operationalized social participation including sociometric approaches asking about the most liked and disliked peers as well as questionnaire-based self-reports on social participation. It is unclear to what extend these measurement differences could explain varying results and inconsistencies between studies (Kulawiak et al, 2020). Similarly, although students' gender and academic year seem to be related to teachers' rating accuracy, these factors have not been systematically included in previous studies.…”

Die soziale Integration von Schülerinnen und Schülern mit sozialer Unsicherheit

“…Der Begriff der sozialen Integration wird in der inklusions pädagogischen bzw. sonderpädagogischen Forschung sehr heterogen verwendet und operationalisiert (Koster et al, 2009;Kulawiak, Urton, Krull, Hennemann & Wilbert, 2020).…”