Gender Equivalence as Perceived by Students, Parents, and Teachers on the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition

Prejudice and discrimination based on gender occurs within the referral and assessment process of students' social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Gender disproportionality has received little attention in special education research (Sullivan & Bal, 2013), yet researchers have found that males are more likely than females to be identified as having learning disability, cognitive disability, emotional disability, other health impairment, speech-language impairment, and low-incident disability (Coutinho & Oswald, 2005). Gender is often discussed as a risk factor for several mental health disorders and gender differences in the experience and prevalence of disorders are emphasized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5 th edition (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The purpose of this study was to examine student, parent, and teacher ratings on a behavioral rating scale, the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, 2nd edition (BASC-2), for similarity based on the gender of students. The normative data from the BASC-2 rating scale were examined for similarities through independent t- tests of equivalence. Results indicated that the genders were similarly rated on the majority of the subscales on the BASC-2. Correlations and coefficients of determination were weak and did not demonstrate substantive strength between the BASC rating scales subscales and gender. At the large effect size 100% equivalence was found, at the moderate effect size 86% equivalence was found, and at the small effect size 16% equivalence was found