Date of Award

8-2024

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

School Psychology

First Advisor

Lindsay Fallon

Second Advisor

Brian Daniels

Third Advisor

Steve Kilgus

Abstract

Demand for mental health services and social-emotional support, particularly post COVID-19, remains high. However, many students, especially from marginalized backgrounds, lack timely access. Accordingly, proactive approaches such as universal screening for students’ social-emotional and behavioral (SEB) functioning are crucial. Despite its potential benefits, universal screening is often underutilized due to various factors, including lack of access to quality instruments or inadequate resources for tiered support systems. Furthermore, common methods of utilizing screening data such as cut-points may not capture students’ multifaceted needs and, therefore, lack treatment utility. Using teacher ratings on the BIMAS-2 for 7,029 students within a diverse, urban school district, this study built upon previous work by this author by examining how students cluster based on their unique constellations of social-emotional and behavioral (SEB) needs within three different developmental stages at two timepoints spanning a full calendar year. Latent profile analyses were run to establish profile configurations for kindergarten-2nd, 3rd-5th grade, and 6th-8th grade students and latent transition analyses were conducted to assess the stability of SEB profiles over time. Additionally, the relationship between profile membership, demographic characteristics, and academic and behavioral outcomes were examined to better understand the practical implications of classifying students into profiles. Latent profile analyses resulted in profile sets containing four profiles for each grade band. All solutions included groupings ordered by their level of risk across all indicators including groups with relatively low risk (“Well-Adjusted” and “Average Risk”), moderate risk (“Borderline Risk”), and high risk (“Pervasive Risk”) suggesting that students SEB needs, as measured by the BIMAS-2, are often similar across subscales. The exception to this pattern was the “Internalizing Risk” profile within the 6th-8th grade sample, which aligns with prior research reflecting increasing prevalence of internalizing symptoms starting in pre-adolescence. Profile stability varied, with the “Well-Adjusted” profile demonstrating the most stability. Demographic analyses revealed disproportionately higher numbers of male, economically disadvantaged, and Black students within higher-risk profiles. Last, profile classification improved predictive power for suspensions but not testing data, suggesting the importance of early and comprehensive behavioral intervention in response to elevated BIMAS-2 teacher ratings. Additionally, notable racial/ethnic disproportionality in profile membership underscores the importance of simultaneously addressing school climate variables contributing to disproportionality and critically examining the cultural relevance of SEB interventions. Future research should include high school samples, broader gender and sexual identity variables, and outcome data more directly related to mental health.

Comments

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Additional and Related Files

Dissertation_Signature_Page.pdf (220 kB)

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