Effects of Labeling Bias on Prognostic Outlook for Children with Behavior Problems

Labeling bias refers to biases that might occur toward a person who has a particular label. This study investigated the effects of labeling bias on prognostic outlook for children as a function of diagnostic labels. School psychologists, regular and special education teachers, and introductory psychology students read a vignette that described a child with behavior problems. The vignette was held constant for all participants, but one of four labels (conduct disordered, socially maladjusted, serious emotionally disturbed, no exceptionality) was varied at the end of the vignette. Respondents then estimated the child\u27s likelihood of future success in interpersonal relationships, the likelihood of further behavioral difficulties, and overall adjustment of the child. There was a significant effect noted for diagnostic label across all professionals; the serious emotionally disturbed label resulted in judgements of significantly poorer outlook for interpersonal relationships than any other diagnostic label. There were no other significant mean differences noted, but a main effect for diagnostic label on judgement of overall adjustment did approach significance. Complete discussion of the results will be presented with implications for practice and research