Teachers' Intervention Preferences Related to Explanations for Behavior Problems, Severity of the Problem, and Teacher Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' preference for positive versus negative interventions based on the amount of information they were provided about the student with behavior problems. A total of 144 educators, mostly teachers, completed a questionnaire that asked them to choose the intervention they would be most likely to use. Half of the participants received scenarios that contained no explanation of behavior, and half had detailed explanations of possible reasons for misbehaviors. Although there was an overall preference for the selection of positive interventions, having an explanation of misbehavior did lead to the choice of more positive interventions than negative interventions in some cases. These choices are discussed as well as their relationship to the experience level of the teacher and the severity of the problem.