Social-Emotional and Behavioral Functioning Profiles and Demographic Factors: A Latent Profile Analysis in Elementary Students

A growing interest has been given to examining the heterogeneity of children’s health to provide for their particular needs. This study examined subgroups of elementary school children’s social, emotional, and behavioral functioning (SEB) using teacher ratings of children with the Behavioral and Emotional Screening System. A Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted with 5,150 students aged from kindergarten to fifth grade. Subscale scores in the areas of externalizing risk, internalizing risk, and adaptive skills risk were used to identify profiles. Students’ grade level, sex, race, and status of receiving special education services were added to investigate the impact of covariates on the classification of latent profiles. Four profiles of risk were identified: Well Development (60.5%), Normal Development (25.8%), Externalizing and Adaptive Skills Risk (9.1%), and Elevated Risk (4.6%). Significant differences of covariates including sex, race, and status of receiving special education services were identified. Specifically, males and African American students were more likely to be classified into the “Elevated Risk” profile than other profiles. Students who did not receive special education services were more in the “Well Development” profile. The results may have important implications for the stakeholders to allocate intervention and treatment resources effectively and accurately.