Association of Self-Reported Internalizing and Externalizing Screener Scores with Student Well-Being and Academic Performance Problems

Prior research has demonstrated that youth internalizing and externalizing problems significantly correlate with youths’ psychosocial and academic outcomes. However, only a few studies have used data from self-report school-based mental health screenings to explore the empirical relationships among these variables. Moreover, most studies investigate self-reported internalizing or externalizing problems, without considering the relative effects of both kinds of problems together. This study addressed these issues in the literature by conducting a secondary analysis of naturalistic data from school-wide mental health screenings across two secondary schools ( N = 1880) within a suburban school district in the western United States. Regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the contributions of self-reported internalizing and externalizing screening scores on concurrent levels of student well-being and academic problems. Findings indicated that both internalizing and externalizing screenings were substantial predictors of both student well-being and academic problems and that, compared to internalizing problems, externalizing problems were a much stronger predictor of academic problems. Implications for practice, limitations, and future directions are discussed.