Can teachers identify student’s internalising problem behaviour? Accuracy, moderators, and modifyability.

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Janin Brandenburg; Professor Dr. Marcus Hasselhorn, since 4/2023; Professorin Dr. Christina Schwenck, since 8/2022
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology ; Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 502793326

In contrast to children with externalising problem behaviour (e.g., being aggressive), children with internalising problem behaviour (IPB) show behaviour that is non-disruptive (e.g. withdrawal, feeling sad or anxious). Thus, IPB has the risk of remaining undetected. Consequently, the affected children often do not receive appropriate care. Some IPBs might only occur in the classroom environment in which the children are continuously exposed to various social interactions as well as a pressure to perform. Thus, schools and their teachers could play an important role in the identification of IPB. However, the incremental validity of teacher judgements is not well studied, with the few existing studies mostly lacking a valid external criterion. According to the gateway provider model there seem to be multiple moderators, which might influence the accuracy with which IPBs are identified. Those moderators include individual factors related to the students or teachers (e.g. teaching experience, gender, severity of the problem behaviour or socioeconomic status) as well as contextual factors related to the schools (school culture concerning mental health, work environment, class problem behavior). As of now, such moderators have only been studied independently from each other. Considering variables which influence the correct identification of IPB can contribute to the development of successful psychoeducational intervention programs. In the current project we aim at investigating the incremental validity of teacher judgements of students’ IPB as well as the potential influence of multiple moderators. We further aim at developing and piloting a psychoeducational intervention program for teachers, based on teachers’ previous knowledge about IPB and the identified moderators.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Marjolein Zee
• Ehemalige Antragstellerinnen: Dr. Daniela Hartmann, until 8/2022; Dr. Linda Visser, until 3/2023