Diagnosing behavior-disordered early adolescents as a function of cultural differences.

The tendency of non-Indian teachers to rate American Indian early adolescents (11-year olds) as behaviorally disordered more frequently than similarly behaving non-Indian children is examined. To test this hypothesis, the observed number of students rated as behavior-disordered by non-Indian teachers were compared with the expected number. A chi-square test revealed no significant tendency for this pattern to occur chi 2 = 2.04 less than .05, df = 1).