Abstract
To establish the psychometric properties of the RCBQ for completion by teachers and to determine behavioural and emotional problems in young children, as they occur in the classroom, we asked 45 elementary school teachers of the north of Portugal to rate classroom behaviour of their pupils based on Rutter Children's Behaviour Questionnaire for teachers. A total of 970 Portuguese mid class children (530 girls and 440 boys) aged between 8 to 11 years (M=8.47; SD=.771) were evaluated. A two factor structure was found to be suitable, exhibiting an acceptable reliability and test-retest values along a 3-month period. An average of 16.1% of the pupils exhibited some behavioural problems, where teachers described anxiety (3.1%), worry (5.1%) and unconcentration (14.1%) as the most prevalent symptoms. The findings suggest that the translated scale could serve as a rapid and useful screening instrument in clinical and in research settings.
Highlights
Throughout the last years some data has highlighted problematic rates of emotional and behavioural problems in school-aged children (e.g. Caron & Rutter, 1991)
The aim of the present study was: a) to determine the psychometric properties of the RCBQ for completion by teachers and, (b) to determine behavioural and emotional problems in young children, as they occur in the classroom, based on teachers report
The scree test and eigenvalues greater than one criteria was applied and suggested a nine-factor solution which account for 79% of the total variance
Summary
Throughout the last years some data has highlighted problematic rates of emotional and behavioural problems in school-aged children (e.g. Caron & Rutter, 1991). Throughout the last years some data has highlighted problematic rates of emotional and behavioural problems in school-aged children Caron & Rutter, 1991) This increased a world-wide consensus regarding the urge for primary prevention, early detection, and proper management of behavioural and emotional disorders. Externalising refers to deregulation of behaviour and internalising to problems in regulating emotions and mood. This classification has been adopted in many studies as a useful way to systematise the spectrum and prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and disorders, and their antecedents, and to promote psychiatric services for children, and to develop preventive measures in the field of child mental health (Costello, Burns, Angold & Leaf, 1993). If the definition of a disorder includes subjects with a mild level of disturbance, the overall rates increase to 50%
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