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Screening for Behavioral and Emotional Risk Versus Traditional School Identification Methods

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Abstract

Systematic screening is one strategy to enhance the early identification of behavioral and emotional problems among youth. Although conceptually sound, it is unclear if screening is more or less effective than current school identification practices in identifying youth with behavioral and emotional concerns. This study compares screening for behavioral and emotional risk with current identification practices in schools to determine differences among referral methods, across a sample of elementary aged students (N = 867). Results indicated that of the 160 students identified as at-risk by the screening measure, only 61 were previously identified through current school identification methods, highlighting the potential benefit of screening to enhance early identification. Results demonstrated internalizing and externalizing behaviors were significantly correlated with at-risk status by identification method. Furthermore, students identified as demonstrating behavioral and emotional concerns by both the screener and receiving school-based services had significantly lower academic achievement. Implications and future research needs are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by grant R324B060005 from the US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School Psychology Program, College of Education, University of Arizona, 1430 E. Second Street, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Katie Eklund

  2. Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Erin Dowdy

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  1. Katie Eklund
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  2. Erin Dowdy
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Correspondence to Katie Eklund.

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Eklund, K., Dowdy, E. Screening for Behavioral and Emotional Risk Versus Traditional School Identification Methods. School Mental Health 6, 40–49 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-013-9109-1

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