Toward Understanding School Psychology Around the Globe: Economical, Educational, and Professional Factors

Abstract

Although the field of school psychology continues to develop rapidly, few recent studies have examined how it is directly affected by a country's economy and education. This study examined the effect of gross domestic product, public spending on education, and public support for education on the ratio of school psychologists to students, level of degree offered, and status of school psychologists. Data from 43 countries were obtained from the School Psychology International Survey (one survey per country), Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, and World Bank Group. Logistic regression results indicated that none of the variables significantly predicted the ratio of school psychologists to students, level of degree offered, and status of school psychologists. The discussion explores the results considering the extant literature and identifies directions for further research.