COMPETENCES AND PROBLEMS REPORTED BY PARENTS OF GREEK AND AMERICAN CHILDREN, AGES 6-11

This study compared parent-reported competencies and behavioral/emotio nal problems in demographically-matched samples of Creek and American children, ages 6-11. Parents of 356 children of each nationality compl eted the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Competence scores were highe r for American children, except on Academic Competence, where scores w ere higher for Creek children. Creek scores were significantly higher than American scores on the Withdrawn, Anxious/Depressed, Attention Pr oblems, Delinquent Behavior, Aggressive Behavior, Internalizing, Exter nalizing, and Total Problem scales. On the Anxious/Depressed syndrome, nationality accounted for 14% of the variance. There were few main ef fects for sex and age and fewer interactions. The higher problem score s in the Creek sample were partly due to the tendency of Greek parents to use extreme item scores. When items were scored present v. absent, Creek scores were higher only on Withdrawn, Anxious/Depressed, Intern alizing, and Total Problems, while American scores were higher on Soma tic Complaints and Thought Problems. Nationality differences in rates of referral for mental health services and sample differences in exclu sion criteria for prior mental health services may have contributed to differences in problem scores. Results are compared to findings from other cross-cultural studies.