Do troublesome pupils impact teacher perception of the behaviour of their classmates?

Figures & data

Table 1. Reliability for the child level.

	Level child
Emotional problems	.68
Behavioural problems	.68
Problems with hyperactivity	.85
Problems with peers	.61
Pro-social behaviour	.74
Total problem score	.80

Table 2. Cut-off scores based on the SDQ-L.

	Male	Female
Emotional problems	5	5
Behavioural problems	5	3
Problems with hyperactivity	9	7
Problems with peers	5	4
Prosocial behaviour	3	5
Total problems	18	15

Note:

Prosocial behaviour has an inversed scale.

Cut-off based on Goodman (1997)

Table 3. Perceived problem behaviour scores for all the pupils and separately for pupils above and below the cut-off.

	All			Pupils below cut-off			Pupils above cut-off
	N	M	SD	N	M	SD	N	M	SD
Emotional problems	3649	1.30	1.81	3386	0.93	1.22	263 (7.2%)	6.06	1.29
Behavioural problems	3649	0.80	1.49	3306	0.42	0.79	343 (9.4%)	4.47	1.69
Problems with hyperactivity	3649	2.69	2.89	3234	1.96	2.11	415 (11.4%)	8.46	1.10
Problems with peers	3649	1.26	1.74	3331	.86	1.10	318 (8.7%)	5.51	1.45
Prosocial behaviour	3649	7.97	2.73	2866	8.60	1.81	783 (21.5%)	5.64	2.29
Total problems	3649	6.06	5.65	3354	4.90	4.09	295 (8.1%)	19.2	3.78

Note:

Prosocial behaviour has an inversed scale; N = 3649 pupils in 184 classes.

Table 4. Association between the number of pupils in class above the cut-off score and average perceived problem behaviour of remaining pupils in class.

		Estimate	95% confidence interval	P	Effect size
Emotional problems	Number above cut-off score	0.14	0.11 to 0.17	<0.001	0.50
	Age	0.00	−0.02 to 0.03	0.74
	Total number of pupils in class	−0.01	−0.02 to 0.01	0.29
	Percentage of boys	0.01	−0.00 to 0.01	0.05
	Number above cut-off score * percentage of boys	0.003	0.00 to 0.01	0.01
Behavioural problems	Number above cut-off score	0.04	0.01 to 0.08	<0.001	0.25
	Age	0.00	−0.02 to 0.01	0.75
	Total number of pupils in class	0.00	−0.01 to 0.00	0.42
	Percentage of boys	0.00	−0.00 to 0.00	0.72
Problems with	Number above cut-off score	0.08	0.01 to 0.14	0.02	0.18
Hyperactivity	Age	−0.04	−0.09 to 0.01	0.08
	Total number of pupils in class	0.00	−0.02 to 0.02	0.81
	Percentage of boys	0.01	0.00 to 0.02	0.16
Problems with peers	Number above cut-off score	0.08	0.04 to 0.12	<0.001	0.31
	Age	−0.03	−0.06 to 0.00	0.06
	Total number of pupils in class	0.00	−0.02 to 0.01	0.46
	Percentage of boys	0.00	−0.01 to 0.01	0.96
Prosocial behaviour	Number above cut-off score	−0.16	−0.19 to −0.12	<0.001	−0.49
	Age	−0.01	−0.05 to 0.03	0.69
	Total number of pupils in class	0.01	−0.01 to 0.03	0.20
	Percentage of boys	−0.02	−0.03 to −0.01	<0.001
Total problem score	Number above cut-off score	0.44	0.31 to 0.57	<0.001	0.43
	Age	−0.05	−0.15 to 0.05	0.35
	Total number of pupils in class	−0.04	−0.08 to 0.00	0.08
	Percentage of boys	0.03	0.01 to 0.06	<0.001

Note:

Estimates for fixed effects from linear mixed models with 95% confidence intervals. N = 184 classes in 31 schools. Significant values are shown in bold.

Goodman, R. 1997. “The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A Research Note.” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38: 581–586.10.1111/jcpp.1997.38.issue-5

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