Twelve-month stability of disruptive classroom behavior as measured by the Sutter-Eyberg Student behavior inventory

Abstract

Presents data on the stability of the Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory (SESBI), a teacher rating scale of disruptive behavior. SESBZs were first completed on 874 children in kindergarten through grade and then 1 year later on the same children. SESBZ scores showed absolute, relative, individual, and structural stability. Results also indicated that the SESBZ measures four dimensions of disruptive behavior (i.e., overt aggression toward others, emotional-oppositional behavior, attentional difficulties, and covert disruptive behavior). In addition, the variance associated with systematic differences among students was substantially larger than the systematic variance associated with teachers, indicating that the SESBI is measuring meaningful differences in students' behavior rather than simply differences among teachers in their use of the scale.