Goodness of fit between teacher and child characteristics: Implications for teachers' perceptions of children's school adjustment.

The concept of Goodness of Fit guided this examination of teacher’s perceptions of externalizing and internalizing students’ school adjustment. Participants included 75 (73 female) teachers of grades 2, 3, and 4. Teacher temperament was examined using the Adult Temperament Questionnaire. Teacher perceptions of student’s school adjustment were examined in response to vignettes describing children with internalizing and externalizing behaviour tendencies. As expected, when the fit between teacher and child characteristics was good, teachers viewed student’s school adjustment more favourably than when the fit was poor. The hypothesis that children would be perceived more positively when their behavioural style was consistent with what is typical for their gender was not confirmed. Internalizing children received lower school adjustment ratings than externalizing children regardless of their sex. Limitations of this study and implications for practice are noted.