中華心理衛生協會

Purpose: That the application of disability labels to children could affect their performance had been widely claimed by labeling critics but not clearly demonstrated. Considerable concern had been expressed regarding the potential negative impact of diagnostic on children. Some critics of labeling had suggested that once a label had been applied to a child, all subsequent interactions with the child would be altered by the presence of that label. Although several investigators had indicated using labels might help establish classification, diagnostic, and treatment sequences, provide a foundation for research on etiology and prevention, and call public attention to a problem, most of the literature had focused on more negative consequences. The impact of labels on school administrators was especially important because of the pivotal role these educators play in dealing with children with special needs. Not only might they be directly influenced by institutional procedures and diagnostic labels, but their attitudes and actions might also influence others. Most authorities estimated the prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at 3 to 5% of the school-aged population, making it one of the most common disorders of children and youth and putting it among the most common reasons for referral. The main purpose of the study were to (a) investigate the effects of different labels and behavioral information of school administrators' perceptions on prediction students' school adjustment and their social distance, (b) explore the effects of different labels and behavioral information from different background of school administrators, (c) examine the relationship between school adjustment prediction and social distance from school administrators toward their ADHD students. Methods: To explore the impact of labeling on school administrators, 270 elementary & junior high school administrators were recruited from Kaohsiung city and county. All participants were given a questionnaire that consisted of a cover letter describing the purpose of the study, a case vignette, a 16-item school adjustment prediction, a 15-item social distance, and a participant information sheet. The vignette described three different labels encompassed ADHD, energetic and normal, and three different behavioral information were described as ADHD, normal, and no description. It was also ensured that all nine vignettes were of comparable length. The School Adjustment Prediction Scales explored predictions about the students' learning, behavioral, interpersonal adjustment. The semantic differential was employed as the measure of school adjustment prediction towards student. The total of 16 bi-polar adjectives were printed in random order, and the positive or negative ends of the scale were alternated to control for systematic response biases. The Social Distance Scales explored perceptions about the students' social distance. The Social Distnace Scale were rated on a scale from 1 to 7, with ”1” meaning extremely unlikely and ”7” meaning extremely likely. Questionnaires were handed out randomly to the subjects. No verbal instruction were given other than asking the subjects to read the instructions on the front of the questionnaire carefully. In addition, the school administrators were asked to work individually and not discuss the questionnaire until they had finished. When the questionnaires had been completed, they were handed in and the subjects thanked. No debriefing was given unless the subjects specifically asked for information or explanations. The scores were then calculated for subject, and these scores were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance, three-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation. Results: The results showed that (1) There was a main effect for different labels and behavioral information on the school adjustment prediction. However, the social distance was not significantly different. There were no significant two-way interaction between different labels and behavioral information on school administrators' perceptions to school adjustment prediction and social distance. The ADHD label or ADHD behavior had a negative results of school administrators' prediction on ADHD students' school adjustment. The evidence suggested that school administrators were much more influenced by ADHD label. The school administrators were relatively immune to the ADHD behavior when evaluating the social distance. (2) There were no significant effects of different labels, behavioral information, or different special education background on the school adjustment prediction and social distance variable, and there were no interaction among those independent variables. There were no significant effects of different labels, behavioral information, or different contact experience on the school adjustment prediction and social distance variable, and there were no interaction among those independent variables. The results revealed that different special education background and contact experience had no significant effects on the perceptions of school administrators. It was apparent that the different special education background and contact experience had virtually no effect on the ratings of the school administrators. (3) There were not significantly correlated between school adjustment prediction and social distance on school administrators' perception of ADHD student. Conclusions: The ADHD label appears to have a negative effect on school administrators' perception of school adjustment. The school administrators' prediction of school adjustment were found to be unrelated to social distance for ADHD students.