Teachers’ perceptions of behavioral problems in Dutch primary education pupils: The role of relative age

Abstract

A growing number of studies suggest that relatively young behavior of pupils gives them a much greater likelihood of being diagnosed with a disorder such as ADHD. This ‘relative age effect’ has also been demonstrated for special educational needs, learning difficulties, being bullied, and so on. The current study investigated the relationship between relative age of pupils in primary education and teachers’ perception of their behavior. The study sample included 1973 pupils, aged between 6 and 12. Six linear mixed models were carried out with birth day in a year as predictor variable and ‘total problem score’, ‘problems with hyperactivity’, ‘behavioral problems’, ‘emotional problems’, ‘problems with peers’ and ‘pro-social behavior’ as dependent variables. Random intercepts were added for school and teacher level. Cluster-mean centering disaggregated between-school effects and within-school effects. We found no associations between relative age of pupils and teacher perceptions of their behavior. Several explanations are postulated to account for these findings which contradict prior studies on relative age effects.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavioural Practice of Elementary Teacher of ADHD Children: Impact of an Educational Intervention

“…Similarly, the results of the current study were supported with the results of many studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of brief interventions to improve teacher knowledge of ADHD [31]. The results of this study was congruent with khalil and Abdelwahab [23], Latouche and Gascoign [24], Wienen et al [25], Veenman, Luman,& Oosterlaan [26] and White et al [27], who showed that average scores of correct response in pre educational program was (35±23.72) compared with post (52±23.74) at p<.001.…”

“…Wienen et al, [25] also examined teachers' attitudes towards children with AD/HD and found that 152 out of the 196 teachers (77.5%) believed that students with AD/HD should be placed in special education settings and that such a setting would be more favorable than a regular classroom. in the current study, the majority (80.0%) of teachers were graduates of general education and didn't receive any training regarding handling ADHD children behaviors which may give an interpretation for the obtained results.…”

Relative Age Effect on Motor Competence in Children Aged 4–5 Years

“…Thus, preschool children whose relative age is younger than that of their schoolmates, have potential consequences such as poorer academic results [9][10][11], worse physical condition [12], less participation in school sports activities [13], a higher percentage of abandoning sports practices [14] and a lower probability of being chosen in detection processes [15], as well as entry to the first teams by overcoming the selection processes that take place within the clubs [1]. In physical education (PE), this effect gives an advantage to those born in the first months of a year, for the mere fact of having been born earlier, arguing that the longer the practice, the better results they will obtain [6,16].…”

Differences on Motor Competence in 4-Year-Old Boys and Girls Regarding the Quarter of Birth: Is There a Relative Age Effect?

“…These ambiguous results, in ages 3 to 6 years, may be due to individual differences in the development of motor skills in age and sex [ 9 , 22 , 41 ]. Furthermore, the scientific literature shows that schoolchildren who are relatively younger than their peers are more likely to have/achieve poorer academic results [ 39 , 42 , 43 ], worse physical condition [ 33 ], and less participation in school sports activities [ 44 ].…”