Date of Conferral
2020
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Psychology
Advisor
Neal McBride
Abstract
Researchers can use the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Teacher Form (SDQ-TF) for ages 4 to 10 as a behavioral screening tool to determine the severity of a child’s problematic behaviors; however, SDQ-TF is subject to potential rater biases. Implicit bias refers to people remaining unaware of their biases, which may influence the ways that student behaviors are rated. Therefore, this study was conducted to measure the effect of race and gender congruency on teacher ratings of student problematic behaviors by the total difficulties score using the SDQ-TF 4-10. A nonprobability convenience sample of 98 teachers in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area completed a SDQ-TF for an anonymous student. A two-way factorial analysis of variance with fixed effects was used to determine whether a significant interaction existed between race and gender affecting student SDQ-TF rating scores. The results showed gender incongruency between the teacher and student influenced the total difficulties scores, whereas the race congruency or incongruency between teachers and students had no effect on the total difficulties score. No interaction effect was observed. From a social change perspective, teachers can use these results to recognize potential rater biases, thereby increasing their awareness and becoming more objective while modeling that objectiveness for children and adolescents.
Recommended Citation
Haas, Amanda, "Effects of Race and Gender on Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Scores" (2020). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 8719.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/8719
