Inter‐ethnic bias in teachers' ratings of childhood hyperactivity

Concern has often been expressed over the possibility of ethnic or racial bias in teachers' assessment of children's behaviour problems. In this paper we present two studies that address this issue directly by looking at the relationship between teachers' subjective ratings of hyperactivity and more objective measures of activity and inattention in groups of ‘Asian’ and ‘English’ primary schoolchildren. In Study 1, teachers' questionnaire and interview ratings of hyperactivity were compared with mechanical and observational measures of activity and inattention taken during a testing session for groups of ‘Asian’ persistently hyperactive boys and non‐hyperactive controls and their ‘English’ classmates. Although ‘Asian’ hyperactives were rated by teachers as being as deviant as ‘English’ hyperactives, in actuality they were no more active and inattentive than the ‘English’ control children on the majority of objective measures. In Study 2, groups of ‘Asian’ and ‘English’ boys, matched on a number of variables, including ratings of hyperactivity, were observed in a classroom situation. A standard observational measure of classroom hyperactivity was used. As in Study 1, ‘Asian’ and ‘English’ children who were rated equally hyperactive differed in terms of actual hyperactive behaviour. ‘Asian’ children displayed fewer hyperactive behaviours than their ‘English’ classmates. A number of possible explanations for these results are suggested and their implications for the use of rating scales in a multicultural context are discussed.