Children's understanding of their emotionally disturbed peers: a replication

Despite increasing recognition of the early importance of peer relations, virtually no systematic information exists on the way in which normal children view their emotionally disturbed peers. This paper reports a replication of recent findings on children's use of the concept of emotional disturbance. Ss were 40 fourth and sixth graders. Five vignettes that described one normal and four emotionally disturbed boys were read to individual Ss; who were interviewed about their understanding of the central figures (CFs). Interviews were coded to a 5-point scale of degree of perceived emotional disturbance. Earlier findings were replicated to a remarkable degree. Ss differentiated among the CFs in a manner congruent with clinician judges' ratings. Grade differences indicate the differential attention to and valuing of specific behaviors, rather than global differences in perception of emotional disturbance.