Elementary school teachers' strategies to handle externalizing classroom behavior: a study of relations between perceived control, teacher orientation and strategy preferences

Childhood ODD and ADHD Behavior: The Effect of Classroom Sharing, Gender, Teacher Gender and Their Interactions

One criterion for a diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is that symptoms are present in at least two settings, and often teacher ratings are taken into account. The short Conners' Teacher Rating Scales-Revised (CTRS-R) is a widely used standardized instrument measuring ODD and ADHD behavior in a school setting. In the current study CTRS-R data were available for 7, 9 and 12-year-old twins from the Netherlands Twin Register. Measurement invariance (MI) across student gender and teacher gender was established for three of the four scales (Oppositional Behavior, Hyperactivity and ADHD Index) of the CTRS-R. The fourth scale (ATT) showed an unacceptable model fit even without constraints on the data and revision of this scale is recommended. Gene-environment (GxE) interaction models revealed that heritability was larger for children sharing a classroom. There were some gender differences in the heritability of ODD and ADHD behavior and there was a moderating effect of teacher's gender at some of the ages. Taken together, this indicates that there was evidence for GxE interaction for classroom sharing, gender of the student and gender of the teacher.

The role of teacher behavior management in the development of disruptive behaviors: an intervention study with the good behavior game

The role of teacher behavior management for children's disruptive behavior development (hyperactive and oppositional behavior) was investigated using a universal classroom preventive intervention study. Five-hundred seventy children were followed from second to third grade of elementary school. Observations of teacher behavior management and children's on-task and off-task classroom behavior and peer reports of hyperactive and oppositional behavior were available. Results showed that the reduced use of negative remarks of intervention teachers predicted children's increase in on-task behavior and decrease in talking-out behavior. These improved children's classroom behaviors in turn mediated the impact of the intervention on the development of hyperactive and oppositional behavior over the studied period. These results were similar for girls and boys. The results underscore the role of teachers' classroom management strategies in improving children's classroom behavior, which, in turn is an important component in the reduction of disruptive behavior development.