Date of Award:

5-1997

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Kenneth W. Merrell

Committee

Kenneth W. Merrell

Committee

Sue Crowley

Committee

Margaret Lubke

Committee

Dave Bush

Abstract

It has only been recently that research in childhood psychopathology has focused on a group of disorders referred to as internalizing disorders. Internalizing disorders can include such problems as depression. anxiety, social withdrawal, and somatic complaints.

Even though research has begun to focus on internalizing disorders with majority children. there has been very little research conducted on ethnic minority children, Native American children in particular. The present study involved obtaining a Native American sample and determining their internalizing symptomology utilizing the Internalizing Symptom Scale for Children (ISSC), the Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS), and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (ST AIC). The study sample was compared to a matched normative sample from the ISSC database. Statistical procedures included bivariate correlations, analysis of variance (ANOV A), and discriminant function analysis. Correlations between the ISSC and the two comparison measures (RCDS and ST AIC) were in the expected direction and of moderate to strong magnitude. The total internalizing symptoms scores of the Native American (Lakota Sioux) sample were similar to those of a matched comparison group from the ISSC national normative database. However, the study sample evidenced a unique pattern of responses on the ISSC subscales, reporting lower rates of both internalizing distress and positive affect. Teacher nominations of potential "internalizers" proved to be a poor predictor of their self-reported symptoms. Implications of this study for clinical practice and future research directions in this area are discussed.

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