Internalizing symptoms and affect of children with emotional and behavioral disorders: A comparative study with an urban African American sample

Abstract

Self‐reported internalizing symptoms of seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) and regular education students in grades 4–6 were compared using the Internalizing Symptoms Scale for Children. All participants were African American and from an urban public school district in the Southeastern United States. Each of the two study groups consisted of 50 participants (35 boys, 15 girls) who were matched by gender and socioeconomic status. The SED group reported significantly higher levels of internalizing distress than the regular education group. In contrast to previous findings, there was no significant gender difference in self‐reported internalizing symptomatology in the present study. A discriminant function analysis found that the ISSC scores were able to correctly classify 91% of the participants into their respective educational group. Results of this study provide additional evidence of the construct validity of the ISSC, a recently developed and unique self‐report measure. Results are discussed in terms of future research needs and educational/clinical practice with students who have emotional and behavioral disorders. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Psychological Symptoms Affecting Low-Income Urban Youth

“…For example, the increased likelihood of being reared in a female headed household (Finkelstein, Donenberg, & Martinovich, 2001;Garbarino, Dubrow, Kostelny, & Pardo, 1992;McLoyd, Jayaratne, Epstein, Ceballo, & Borquez, 1994) may reduce the degree to which low-income urban males express symptoms exclusively in stereotypically masculine ways (at least during early adolescence). Second, the dangerous living conditions in lowincome urban settings may reduce gender differences in internalizing and externalizing symptoms by decreasing the expression of internalizing and by increasing the expression of externalizing symptoms in adolescent girls (if, for example, expression of internalizing symptoms makes youth more vulnerable to victimization) (Fishkin, Rohrbach, & Johnson, 1997;Sanders, Merrell, & Cobb, 1999;Thomas, 2001).…”

Differential Item Functioning on Antisocial Behavior Scale Items for Adolescents and Young Adults from Single-Parent and Two-Parent Families

“…Social scientists have long been interested in studying group differences on key outcome measures. For examples, gender differences in internalizing symptoms (Hankin and Abramson 2002 ; Sanders et al 1999 ), racial differences in externalizing symptoms (Krueger et al 2003 ; Ruchkin et al 2006 ), and differences in growth trajectories between children from different family structures (Curran 2000 ; Beyers and Loeber 2003 ) are all areas in which researchers have reported differences between groups. However, whether group differences are real or the result of measurement bias is not always clear.…”

The identification of students with emotional disturbance: Moving the field toward responsible assessment practices

“…As our field moves forward, two salient and daunting challenges are evident, both of which relate to the representation of students that comprise the ED category. The first challenge pertains to the disproportionate underidentification of students whose symptoms and/or conditions fall along the internalizing continuum (e.g., Kauffman, 1997;Sanders et al, 1999). Using data obtained from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study, Gage (2013) estimated that approximately 7% of students who received special education services under the ED category manifested internalizing behaviors.…”

“…Concerns have also been raised that students who exhibit externalizing symptoms are more easily recognized by school personnel and, thus, are disproportionately identified for ED services relative to children/youth who are experiencing internalizing disorders and suffering in silence (e.g., Gage, 2013;Sanders, Merrell, & Cobb, 1999). Because internalizing symptoms, by their nature, are directed inwardly and are reflective of overcontrolled expressions of emotion/behavior, they oftentimes remain shrouded and unobservable to third parties (Merrell, 2008).…”