Children’s Behavior and Evaluation for Mental Health Problems:
Social Statuses and Social Construction Processes*
ABSTRACT
Children’s behavioral and emotional problems have allegedly exploded in the past two decades,
with many more children diagnosed with mental health disorders and a surging population of
youth who are medicated. Prior research suggests that lower social class status is a key factor
affecting children’s problem behavior. Using a nationally representative, longitudinal study of
15,305 third graders, this study extends prior research by pointing to how children’s mental
health disorders are socially created and constructed. Descriptive results show that poor children
exhibit more problem behaviors and emotions and they are also channeled to professionals for
attention problems (but not emotional problems) at higher rates. Yet multi-variate analyses show
that at the same levels of negative behavior, it is higher income, white, and male children that are
(disproportionately) evaluated for attention and emotional problems. These “low-achieving”
high-status children are defined as having medical problems that must be cured. Negative
implications for children at each end of the socio-economic spectrum are discussed.
Convention