Children?s Perceptions About Themselves and Their School Experiences

Children?s Perceptions in Third Grade

Reading, Mathematics, and General School SDQ Scales

In general, few group differences were found in terms of children?s perceptions about their abilities and interests in reading, mathematics, and school in general (table A-13). On average, children indicated that items on the reading, mathematics, and ?all school subjects? scale were ?mostly true? for them, based on average scale scores of 3.3, 3.2, and 2.9, respectively. These scores indicate that, on average, children generally were interested in and enjoyed reading, mathematics, and school in general, and that they did not perceive the academic work to be too difficult for them in these areas. In the bivariate analyses, girls felt more positively about their interests and competence in reading than boys and children who attended public schools for the first 4 years of school had reported greater competence and interest in mathematics than children who had always attended private schools. Results from the regression analyses for each scale also found that girls responded more positively on the reading scale than boys, although school type was not found to be substantively related to mathematics perceptions, after controlling for other factors (table A-14).

Peer-Relationships SDQ Scale

On average, children responded positively about their relationships with their peers, with an overall mean score on the peer-relationships scale of 3.0 (?mostly true?) (table A-13). The relatively high scores on this measure indicated that children generally felt that they made friends easily and got along well with their peers. Black and Hispanic third-graders reported more positively about their peer relationships than Asian/Pacific Islander children. After controlling for the other factors, such as number of family risk factors and school type, Black third-graders still had higher scores on the peerrelationships scale than Asian/Pacific Islander thirdgraders (effect size of 0.24 SD) (table A-14).

Internalizing and Externalizing Problem Behaviors SDQ Scales

In terms of the problem behaviors scales, children tended to indicate that items on the internalizing problem behavior (e.g., sad/lonely/anxious) scale and the externalizing problem behavior (e.g., anger/distractibility) scale were ?a little bit true? for them, with means of 2.2 and 2.0, respectively (table A-13). These values indicate that children felt they occasionally exhibited internalizing problem behaviors (e.g., feeling ashamed of mistakes, worrying about school and friendships, and feelings of sadness or loneliness) or externalizing problem behaviors (e.g., fighting and arguing with other children, disturbing others, or causing distractions).

Children?s perceptions of their own problem behaviors varied by sex, race/ethnicity, number of family risk factors, and school type. In mean comparisons, boys were more likely than girls to indicate that they exhibited externalizing problem behaviors. Black third-graders reported the highest scores on both problem behavior scales, and Hispanic children rated themselves higher on the internalizing problem behavior scale than White and Asian/ Pacific Islander children. Also, as children?s number of family risk factors increased, they tended to rate themselves higher on both problem behavior scales (figure 13). In terms of early school experiences, children who attended only public schools from kindergarten through third grade had higher scores on the internalizing problem behavior scale than children who had been enrolled in private schools for some or all of the first 4 years of school.

Many of the bivariate findings were supported in the corresponding regression analyses (table A-14). For instance, boys were more likely than girls to report exhibiting externalizing problem behaviors and Black children were more likely to indicate that they exhibited both types of problem behaviors than White and Asian/Pacific Islander thirdgraders, after controlling for the other characteristics. They were also more likely than Hispanic thirdgraders to have higher scores on the externalizing problem behavior scale. Also, children with more than one family risk factor were more likely to report experiencing internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors than those with no family risk factors.

However, after controlling for the other factors, some of the bivariate differences did not persist in the regression analyses. For instance, Hispanic children were not substantively more likely to indicate that they experienced internalizing problem behaviors than White or Asian/Pacific Islander third-graders. Also, school type was not substantively related to the likelihood of either problem behavior type in the regression analyses.