Differences in resilience among African-American, inner city students with and without severe disruptive behaviors

Abstract

Students labeled as EBD have the poorest academic and life outcomes of any category of special education students, due to inappropriate, problematic behaviors and lack of social skills and problem-solving skills. The current study examined differences in resilience between African American inner city students placed in EBD/MRP classrooms due to severe behavior problems and African American inner city students in regular education to see if lower self-ratings in resilience (social bonding, personal competence, and /or social competence) to deal with the life stresses and risk factors might account in part for students being placed in EBD/MRP classrooms. Data was collected through self-ratings on the Individual Protective Factors Index: A measure of adolescent resilience and results for the samples were compared using an independent samples t-test. No significant differences were found between the two samples on the domains of Social Bonding, Personal Competence, and Social Bonding. A statistically significant difference was found between Personal Competence as compared to Social Competence and Social Bonding for the combined sample, with Personal Competence being significantly higher. Strategies for schools, teachers, and school psychologists to increase positive outcomes for students labeled as EBD as well as suggestions for promoting resilience among all students were discussed.