The Relationships among Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Behaviour, Teachers’ Characteristics, and Ratings of Students’ Emotional and Behavioural Problems

Abstract

This study examined the relationships among teachers’ perceptions of students’ behavioural problems and their own efficacy and psychological symptoms. Findings suggested that teachers were more bothered by externalising (i.e., acting out) than internalising (i.e., withdrawal, depression) behavioural problems in their students, and believed that students had greater control over externalising behavioural problems. In addition teachers’ personal teaching efficacy contributed significantly to the prediction of how bothersome internalising behavioural problems were perceived as being. Further, teachers’ personal and general teaching efficacy both contributed significantly to the prediction of teachers’ perceptions of student control over externalising behavioural problems. These findings may have particular relevance to interventions addressing students’ behavioural problems in the classroom.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank T. J. Mullarkey, Theoni Pappas, and Shirley Kidney for their help on this project.