Call for Papers
“Assessing Behavior Difficulties in Students”: A Special Issue of the European Journal of Psychological Assessment
A recent special issue of the European Journal of Psychological Assessment focused on Theories, Models, and Assessment of states and traits. We would like to elaborate on that topic but with a special focus on behavior difficulties of students. This topic has reached a very prominent position in the educational inclusion debate in recent years, because many teachers (and parents) feel troubled and concerned by the problematic behaviors of their students. As the concept “behavior difficulties” is very broadly defined, many different methods exist to assess it.
Possible Key Constructs and Assessment Techniques Used
When using paper-and-pencil questionnaires, teachers or parents can be asked to rate the behavior of their child/pupil, but children can also be asked to rate their own behaviors. Internationally well-known instruments such as the Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ; see Goodman, 1997; http://www.sdqinfo.com) or the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991; http://www.aseba.org) are often used. However, the psychometric qualities of these instruments are often questioned and they solely allow a state evaluation. Yet, behavior also relates to trait issues. For this reason, many other methods for assessing behavior difficulties have been developed. For instance, direct behavior ratings permit a developmental evaluation of behavior difficulties. Furthermore, with the appearance of new methodological approaches (e.g., event sampling measurements), other techniques have become available and different questions can be analyzed (e.g., classroom composition effects).
Intended Readership
The readership will be broad. These might be specialists in the clinical field of behavior difficulties, but also researchers in psychology in general, as well as researchers in the field of education, special education and educational psychology and specialists in assessment.
Timeline and Manuscript Submission Process
Submission deadline for abstracts:
January 31, 2016
Abstracts should contain maximum 500 words and can be sent directly to Carmen Zurbriggen (E-mail carmen.
- February 7, 2016 Invitations for full manuscript submission will be sent to authors
- May 29, 2016 Full manuscript submission deadline
- August 15, 2016 Reviewers’ feedback will be sent to authors
- September 31, 2016 Revised manuscripts due from authors
- December 1, 2016 Reviewers’ feedback of revised manuscripts returned to authors
- January 15, 2017 Final revisions must be received; editorial decisions
Full manuscripts will be due February 28, 2017.
Manuscript Categories
Theoretical and Methodological Papers
Papers that compare different theoretical approaches on defining and measuring state and trait constructs, papers that advance and/or extend current theory and models for assessing behavior difficulties.
Applied Papers
Original empirical research studies assessing behavior difficulties with innovative assessments or that advance and/or extend instruments for assessing and analyzing data (e.g., such as the SDQ) with new approaches.
Full manuscripts will be limited to 35 standard manuscript pages (including all figures, tables, and references; authors can ask for editorial approval of a longer paper if highly warranted). Manuscripts will undergo a regular process of review following the schedule outlined above. All submissions should be prepared in accordance with the European Journal of Psychological Assessment’s author guidelines (www.hogrefe.com/periodicals/europeanjournal-of-psychological-assessment/) and submitted through the journal’s submission portal (https://www.editorialmanager.com/ejpa/default.aspx). Contributors should indicate in their cover letter that they would like to have the paper considered for the Special Issue on “Assessing Behavior Difficulties in Students.”
Papers acceptable for publication that cannot be published in this special issue may be considered for publication in a regular issue of European Journal of Psychological Assessment, unless authors explicitly decline this option.
General inquiries can be addressed to the Guest Editors:
Anke de Boer (E-Mail anke.
Ute Koglin (E-Mail ute.
Susanne Schwab (E-Mail susanne.
Carmen Zurbriggen (E-mail carmen.
References
(1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist/4–18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.
(1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581–586.
