multimethod study of problem behavior among Thai and American children in school: teacher reports versus direct observations

• Published in: Child development 1995-04, Vol.66 (2), p.402-415
• Main Authors: Weisz, J.R, Chaiyasit, W, Weiss, B, Eastman, K.L, Jackson, E.W
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavior; Behavior Problems; Behavioural problems; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Behavior Disorders - diagnosis; Child Behavior Disorders - epidemiology; Child Behavior Disorders - psychology; Child clinical studies; Child psychopathology; Children; Children & youth; Classroom Observation Techniques; Classroom observations; Comparative Analysis; Cross Cultural Studies; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cross-Sectional Studies; Crosscultural Analysis; Cultural differences; Developing Countries; Elementary School Students; English teachers; Female; Foreign Countries; Humans; Incidence; Male; Medical sciences; Methodological Problems; Miscellaneous; Observational research; Observer Variation; Parents; Participant Observation; Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; school children; Schools; Social Environment; Southeast Asian culture; Space based observatories; Statistical variance; Student Behavior; Teacher Attitudes; Teachers; Teaching Methods; Thai People; Thailand; Thailand - epidemiology; United States; United States - epidemiology; United States of America
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.2307/1131586

Previous literature describes Thai children as unusually polite, deferent, and behaviorally restrained. Yet, in a recent study employing teacher reports, Thai children were reported to show many more behavior problems than American children. Such a finding may reflect culture-linked differences in the perspective of Thai versus American teachers. To explore this possibility, we used trained observers to conduct direct observations of Thai and American children's school behavior, and we obtained teacher reports on the same children. Observational results were precisely the opposite of previous and present teacher-report findings: Observers reported twice as much problem behavior and off-task behavior in American children as in their Thai age-mates. This pattern may reflect Thai-U. S. differences in teachers' style, societal values and practices, even child temperament. The findings support the value of direct behavior observation in cross-national research on child problems.