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A comparison of the school mental health referral profiles of young ESL and English‐Speaking children
Author(s) -
Spomer Michelle L.,
Cowen Emory L.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(200101)29:1<69::aid-jcop5>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - psychology , assertiveness , referral , mental health , anxiety , rating scale , social skills , scale (ratio) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , social psychology , nursing , physics , quantum mechanics
School adjustment profiles of demographically matched English‐as‐a‐second‐language (ESL), and non‐ESL, children, both groups largely Hispanic, referred for school mental health services were compared. Comparisons were based on total, factor, and item scores from two measures of school adjustment, the Teacher‐Child Rating Scale (T‐CRS) and Child Rating Scale (CRS). Teachers judged ESLs to have fewer acting‐out, and more shy/anxious and learning problems than non‐ESLs. English‐as‐a‐second‐language students were also judged to have fewer competencies than non‐ESLs overall, and in the specific areas of assertive social skills and peer‐social skills, but to have greater frustration tolerance. Separate factor analyses of the T‐CRS with referred ESL and non‐ESL children confirmed the factor structure previously obtained with non‐referred, English‐speaking children. Factor analysis of the CRS, however, yielded an expanded (9‐item) anxiety factor for ESL children that included three prior peer‐sociability items. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.