BEHAVIORAL AND EMOTIONAL-PROBLEMS AMONG CHINESE AND AMERICAN CHILDREN- PARENT AND TEACHER REPORTS FOR AGES 6 TO 13

This study compared behavioral and emotional problems reported by pare nts and teachers in Chinese urban and rural samples and demographicall y similar American samples. Parents of 469 6-to-13-year-old children o f each nationality completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Teac hers completed the Teacher's Report Form (TRF). Cross-cultural differe nces were generally modest in magnitude. Chinese children scored highe r on TRF Delinquent Behavior and Anxious/Depressed syndromes, and on I nternalizing. American children scored higher on CBCL Aggressive Behav ior and TRF Attention Problems syndromes. Boys exhibited more external izing behaviors across both cultures. The mean correlation between par ent and teacher ratings was .36 in the Chinese sample and .29 in the A merican sample, a nonsignificant difference. Findings indicate conside rable similarity between problems reported for children in very differ ent societies.