Teacher's ratings of disruptive behavior in five countries

Examined the extent of agreement among teachers from China, Indonesia, Japan, the United States, and Thailand who rated videotaped disruptive behaviors. When observing children in solitary activity, the American and Japanese teachers generally gave less extreme ratings than did teachers from the other countries. Weaker differences were found when the same children were observed in groups with their peers. These findings point to the influence of cultural factors in ratings of disruptive behaviors and bring into question the comparability of cross-cultural epidemiological estimates of disruptive behavior disorders.