Socioeconomic Bias in the Diagnosis of Mental Retardation

Neer, William L.; Foster, Dorothy A.; Jones, J. G.; Reynolds, D.

doi:10.1177/001440297304000108

Cited by 20 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Early research indicated that social class bias is present (Abramowitz & Dokecki, 1977). That is, mental illness was more often reported when a client's background was described as being lower‐class rather than middle‐class or upper‐class and when the clinicians were given Rorschach Inkblot Test results (Haase, 1964; Trachtman, 1971), case history information and IQ scores (Neer, Foster, Jones, & Reynolds, 1973), or recordings of an interview (DiNardo, 1975; Lee & Temerlin, 1970). The effect of social class was also significant in a later study when clinicians made diagnoses after viewing videotapes of interviews (Luepnitz, Randolph, & Gutsch, 1982).…”

Section: Social Class Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race bias, social class bias, and gender bias in clinical judgment.

Garb¹

1997

Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice

200

140

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Studies on race bias, social class bias, and gender bias are reviewed. Topics include psychodiagnosis and rating level of adjustment, the description of personality traits and psychiatric symptoms, the prediction of behavior, and treatment planning. Replicated findings indude race bias in the dffarential diagnosis of schizophrenia and psychotic afkctive disorders, gender bias in the dfhrential diagnosis of histrionic and antisocial personality disorders, race bias and gender bias in the prediction of violence, and social class bias in the referral of dients to psychotherapy. Recommendations for decreasing bias include (a) being aware of when biases are likely to occur, (b) adhering to diagnostic criteria, and (c) using statistical prediction rules to predict behavior. Key wods: cognitive biases, judgment, personality assessment, prediction, psychodiagnosis. f a i n Psycho1 Sci Prac 4:99-120, 19971Misconceptions exist about research on race bias, social class bias, and gender bias. For example, according to a recent article in The A P A Monitor (Sleek, 1996), Practitioners tend to judge lower-class patients as more seriously disturbed than higher-class patients. They detect schizophrenia in black people more than in whites. And they offen judge women patients as more disturbed than male patients presenting identical problems. @. 30)

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Section: Social Class Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race bias, social class bias, and gender bias in clinical judgment.

Garb¹

1997

Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice

200

140

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“…Different results have been reported among classroom teachers. One early study (Neer, Foster, Jones, & Reynolds, 1973) showed a greater tendency among teachers to diagnose mild mental retardation (MMH) in low SES children. Similarly, Giesbrecht and Routh (1979) reported that teachers were more likely to recommend SE services for low SES blacks than high SES blacks.…”

Section: Socioeconomic Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bias in special education decisions: The contribution of analogue research.

Huebner

1991

School Psychology Quarterly

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Reviewed analogue research that investigated bias in school psychologists' and other educators' special education diagnostic and placement decisions. Methodological and theoretical concerns related to analogue studies are addressed subsequently. Finally, recommendations for future research are provided.The accurate determination of the need for special education services is a prerequisite to the provision of such services. Given that some groups of children (e.g., minorities, males) have been disproportionately represented in special education (SE) programs, numerous questions have been raised regarding bias in SE decision-making practices.Bias usually "implies prejudice . . . or inaccuracy in clinical judgment" (Lopez, 1989, p. 184). Although there is disagreement over the term, bias will be used herein to refer to systematic, divergent decisions based upon comparable information (e.g., assessment data) as a function of group membership (e.g., racial, gender, or cultural differences) (Cleary, Humphreys, Kendrick, & Wesman, 1975). Racial bias would thus be demonstrated if members of one ethnic group were disproportionately recommended for SE programs when all other variables (e.g., school achievement) were equal.The search for factors related to bias in assessment outcomes has proceeded through two major stages of development. Initial efforts focused narrowly on assessment instruments, primarily standardized intelligence tests.

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“…For example, it has been demonstrated that teachers hold different attitudes toward children as a function of the children's sex (Jackson & Lahaderne, 1967;Palardy, 1969), race (Rubovits & Maehr, 1973), socioeconomic status (SES) (Bergan & Smith, 1966;Lenkowsky & Blackman, 1968;Neer, Foster, Jones, & Reynolds, 1973), physical appearance (Berscheid & Walster, 1974;Dion, 1972), name (Staffieri, 1976), perceived intelligence (Matuszek & Oakland, 1979;Rubovits & Maehr, 1971), and behavior (Algozzine, Mercer, & Countermine, 1977;Giesbrecht & Routh, 1979;LaVoie & Adams, 1974).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnostic Classification Decisions as a Function of Referral Information

Ysseldyke

Algozzine

1981

J Spec Educ

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Educational decision makers (n = 224) participated in a computer-simulated decisionmaking experience designed to ascertain the extent to which referral information biased classification decisions. Subjects were randomly assigned to 16 different conditions that varied on the basis of the referred child's sex, socioeconomic status, physical attractiveness, and nature of referral problem. Subjects accessed test data, all of which reported performance in the normal range. Only the nature of the referral problem was found to be influential in the simulated decisions. A referred child was more likely to be diagnosed as emotionally disturbed when the referral statement of the problem was listed as behavioral rather than academic. Subjects ignored standardized test information indicative of average performance, and retained the stereotype created by the referral information. The results are discussed with regard to implications for assessment of children and future research.

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Socioeconomic Bias in the Diagnosis of Mental Retardation

Abstract: Rosenthal, R. Unintended effects of the clinician in clinical interaction: A taxonomy and a review of clinician expect ancy effects.

Cited by 20 publications

References 4 publications

Race bias, social class bias, and gender bias in clinical judgment.

Race bias, social class bias, and gender bias in clinical judgment.

Bias in special education decisions: The contribution of analogue research.

Diagnostic Classification Decisions as a Function of Referral Information

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