Teacher and Student Ratings of the Disturbingness of Common Problem Behaviors

Responses by 43 teachers and 200 junior high school students to the 55 common problem behaviors listed on the Disturbing Behavior Checklist I are compared. Rank orderings of the two groups' ratings of the disturbingness of behaviors show moderate agreement. Both teachers and students rated several of the same acting-out, aggressive behaviors as the most disturbing to them, although overall teachers rated the behaviors as more disturbing than did students. Behaviors for which there exist the widest discrepancies in rankings are noted. Implications of the pattern of teacher and student ratings are discussed.