Elementary teachers' perceptions regarding school behavior problems: Implications for school psychological services

The study focuses upon teachers' perceptions of school behavior problems and preferred classroom management actions. Two hundred elementary school teachers were evaluated with a questionnaire comprising assessment of causal attributions and goal-directed behavior on the part of the teachers, when dealing with classroom misbehavior problems. Internal student-related attributions were those most frequently adopted by the teachers, even though teachers' explanations varied significantly across school problems. Misbehavior-related attributions were significantly associated with teachers' preferred practices. Our results support the application of psychological principles to educational practice through an understanding of teachers' discipline-related theories. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.