Study Sample

The sample for analysis includes 751 sixth-graders (60% of those invited) who completed a pre-test survey on laptop computers. As the study sample is representative of the classroom aggregate demographic (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status), there is little evidence of non-response bias. Surveys were offered in English or Spanish, though all students chose the English survey. More than half were female and had a mean age of 11.5 years (Table 1). The sample is ethnically diverse (44% Hispanic/Latino, 23% non-Latino white, 23% non-Latino black, and 10% other race/ethnic group; 70% preferred using English language at home), as well as socioeconomically—60% come from a household income of US$40,000 or less, and about 43% had a parent/guardian educational attainment of a high school diploma or less. Youth with incomplete data regarding the assessment of mental health problems and aggressive behaviors were excluded (<5%). There were no statistically significant differences between the included and excluded participants on these variables. The final sample for these analyses included 729 participants.

Sample characteristics, mental health and experiences of aggressive behaviors; Texas Stigma Study, 2011–2015 (N=751)