Behaviour Disturbance and Failure to Learn: A Study of Cause and Effect

Summary

This article reports a follow‐up study designed to throw light on the vexed question of cause, and effect in the commonly observed association of poor learning with behaviour disturbance. Previous studies were reviewed, and only one was found which approached the issue empirically using a follow‐up design.

In the present study 1,100 children were assessed for behaviour disturbance before they had received any formal instruction in reading or maths, and again, by different teachers, after three years of such instruction. The critical finding was that the behaviour disturbance of the poor learners was no greater at the end of the period than at the start. This indicated that in general the experience of poor learning could not have been the cause of the maladjustment, although it could have generated anxieties and avoidances specific to the learning situation. It was concluded that on the whole it was the initial maladjustment which produced the poor learning. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for early diagnosis and treatment of maladjusted behaviour in school, and how to identify the faulty learning strategies which form the links between behaviour disturbance and poor attainment.